


Alone

by Elchikaah_Haly



Category: Final Fantasy IX
Genre: Zidane is kinda evil under Kuja's influence, ZxG but mostly one-sided, but he's still adorable and dumb, mostly a family story, some romance but not much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 83,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27525181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elchikaah_Haly/pseuds/Elchikaah_Haly
Summary: A rumor among Treno citizens spoke of the powerful, fearless Tribal nobles, who they called the Tailed Brothers, that were capable of defeating an army by themselves. Yet, Kuja knew Zidane's only true fear.To be alone.An AU story where Zidane was never thrown away on Gaia, where Kuja and Zidane grew together as Terra's saviors and Angels of Death. A tale of killing, corruption, respect, sibling love and growing up.Also an excuse to write family fluff, and coinciding with FFIX 20th anniversary, kinda (LOLOL months late).
Comments: 37
Kudos: 20





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Zidane’s a bad guy in this fic, kind of.

**_ Disclaimer _ ** _: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them._

** Prologue **

Under the sunset of this strange world, his vision blurred by the tears, his stinging eyes were drifting to a crimson shade. The uncontrollable hiccups of his throat were far from stopping and the pain at the top of his cheeks thwarted him from moving his lips to speak.

He still couldn’t believe how miserable it felt to cry like a lost child when he had just reached adulthood. He thought that, by now, he should have outgrown that childish behavior, one thing that was always in the way of his actions, of his plans through his life. Grown men shouldn’t cry. The same grown men had always told behind his back that he was strong and that crying was for the weak. So why was he still crying? Why could he not get over it and move on?

Why did he even possess emotions?

That sorrow overwhelming his senses was causing this inconvenient pain in the heart and in the mind, a pain worse than any inflicted physical injuries that had been so close to slaughter him several times in his life. It was a pain he wished to get rid of. It was a bother, an obstacle to his now fictional, unconceivable joy, and yet…

His past, while filled with malevolent events and malicious intents, had thrived with happiness and warmth, thanks to these same painful emotions.

Emotions were some nice additions to his life, a feature he should thank his now meaningless creator for. They made him up, forged him up, into the creature that he was now, powerful and perfect. Yes, the imperfection of his emotive surges was coveted by his creator when he had projected to conceive his “perfect" one.

This catastrophe spread around him was the reward for owning a soul since his birth, or rather his creation, as an infant.

Emotions were confusing. He understood them, and yet, he did not understand them. It angered him and it was driving him into rage and insanity.

How he wished to rip everything apart.

But of course, not everything. He would never tear his brother apart, the one he was holding tight in his arms. The poor brother, still and pale complex, nothing twitching nor moving but the gentle flow of his soft, dancing silver hair and the brushing fur of his tail. His lips were forever struck with a weak, yet heartbroken sulk. His sky-colored, lifeless eyes stared to the emptiness of the horizon where wide mountains and tall mushroom-like structures stood upright in the distance. Their bases, hidden by a panoply of destroyed airships and surrounded by thousands of bloodied corpses emanating the stench of a battlefield, reflected into his bare, clear orbits.

The sight from his brother’s eyes was so beautiful.

Beautiful, yes, one word to describe his brother that matched him perfectly, even when each of his beautiful features were drenched with dirt, dried blood and some scarce flies buzzing around. These were devouring bit by bit the former, glorious physique that used to make him up. Even his stiffened muscles were still shaping him into the slender, attractive young man, despite death having claimed him.

It’d been a day already, he thought. He wasn’t certain anymore. So much had happened in the recent days, and the concept of time was already lost on him. After all these days, he still could not find himself to leave the body, to mourn the death of his loved one, his dear older sibling and former caregiver.

The young man who had not changed in the past sixteen years.

Kuja…

Zidane stroked Kuja’s hair and cheeks. He hushed soft, comforting and amicable words to him, not concerned that he will not get any response, having no care that his soul was long gone. Kuja’s soul must have joined the cycle of souls, perhaps to be reborn and restart anew without any part of his memories, without his experiences of the past, without the care and love he had provided his sibling. Without memories of his family, Zidane was forgotten. No one loved him anymore.

He was alone.

Living his biggest fear.

Zidane had dreaded of being alone since he came to be, and there he was, with no one to look up to, with no one to look after him, with no one to love. He wasn’t sure what to make out of it, now that he had gone through his one and only fear of knowing he will be alone for the rest of his life. How he longed to be a small child again, watching his big brother smile at him, hugging him, teasing him, teaching him. He crawled himself between Kuja’s hardened arms like he used to do when he was a child, craving for his warmth like an offspring provided with a parent’s love. He called his brother’s name over and over, expecting a reply.

Getting no answered prompted intensifying tears. His bawls were now wild.

He was truly alone, and he was afraid.

“ ** _Zidane…_** ”

That voice calling him in his mind… It was familiar, yet distant and unknown. It stirred Zidane away from his terrifying solitude. Alerted, he launched himself and landed on his feet, his daggers unsheathed and ready for another massacre. However, the instant he spotted a group of people heading toward him, he froze. The blinding sunset behind them hid the shape of their bodies. Yet, when he allowed some time for his vision to sharpen in spite of the light, he perceived clearer details on the one leading the group to him, a silhouette that was somehow familiar to him.

Unlike them, Zidane did not manifest the same familiarity toward that individual with the same privilege of owning a soul.

After all, how could he call that person a sister after having been separated from her for so long?

Mikoto…

The closer the young girl and the group were getting, the deeper Zidane’s brows furrowed. He remained silent and still, intending on protecting his brother’s body from these despicable people. They were the reason for his demise, for causing his biggest fear, for inflicting the painful injuries in his mind and soul.

For killing Kuja.

“ ** _You have… succeeded…_** ”

“In what?!” he snarled at the girl who kept perturbing him inside his mind. His rage burst over his diminishing sadness as such he bared his teeth and growled at the group in fury.

The individuals behind the girl took a step back with a gasp, dreading of the assassin who might launch at them at any moment. However, Mikoto hushed at her kin to calm themselves and tried to let them know that she was in total control of the situation. The group took more steps back, but the teen girl walked ahead, certain of herself. Zidane gave her a long, chilling stare, studying her features.

She looked so much like him in appearance… just like the others behind her.

“Gaia’s crystal…” Mikoto began slowly, this time using her own voice as she detected the frustration in the young man’s mind when she had used their telepathic links. Zidane settled down when he noticed the guilt and sorrow in her eyes. “… has been assimilated by Terra’s crystal. It is thanks to you for having defeated the Gaian armies. Gaia’s crystal has gotten weak enough to allow Terra’s crystal to take over. The fusion is a complete success.”

Well, that certainly explained the difference to his surroundings. He had never seen these tall mushroom-like structures on Gaia before, but he had been so busy dealing with his fear that he had paid them no heed, until now. “Oh,” he said, dumbfounded by the revelation.

The girl carried on with the same monotone voice. “The Genomes are starting to welcome the Terran souls. You have revived Terra. We can only be grateful.”

Grateful? About what?! He was alone now. They had shoved him fear and pain. He had no care for thanks.

Yet, his demise progressed into a greater doom. When he thought he would never have to hear the voice of that old man again…

“ ** _Zidane, my Angel of Death._** ”

That deep voice speaking in his mind… That fucking, annoying voice that had haunted him and his brother for their entire lives…

“ ** _I knew you were the perfect one. I knew you would succeed. I thank you, for helping me, for helping us, for saving Terra._** ”

That old man, Garland…

A wave of outrage and regret resurged. A blend of terror, sadness and madness flooded his confused soul. The voice of the old man pulled out the killing instincts from the depth of his mind, the very same features that made him the Angel of Death persona his master had desired from him since his creation. Right now, they resurfaced, pushing him to a lust for another carnage which Zidane will enjoy.

When he threw another low growl out of his throat, his body gave away a faint light glow as fur began to cover his exposed body…

Trance, what a cathartic sensation…

* * *

Bonus image I drew :)


	2. Chapter 1: Prototype

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who’s being introduced and growing in this chapter. Also, thanks for the kudos and comment!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

** Chapter 1: Prototype **

_Twenty-four years ago…_

Life flicked and stirred it out from its artificial stasis.

Finally. The creature he had shaped into the very definition of beauty, a being of marvel that all eyes shall casted upon its presence, made its first movements. Its slender body, its soft, pale skin along with its long, feathery silver hair and its elongated, furred silver tail bathed in the radiance of blue, all in their peaceful slumber in the tank. Molded with the image of gods, it bore an outstanding appearance which differed it from all its other kin.

Crouched in a fetal position like a natural newborn, it remained afloat, unaware of the world where it will find its new existence and soul.

A living soul.

Eyes shut, it waited for its sleeping soul to take shape of this perfect vessel, a host for life. Only when life will shine upon its eyes, it will discover its surroundings, its purpose of life, its purpose as the savior of Terra. Tasked to bring life and death for its purpose, it shall be given a title worthy of its importance.

An Angel of Death.

Yes, a prototype, a first version of Terra’s angel and savior. Even if it had taken him years to forge and construct the perfect Genome specimen, he had no choice but to implement it limitations. A prototype wasn’t meant to live, but it should live long enough to live up to its purpose, if it will ever achieve this. Should it stop, he will create a second angel, a second prototype and a version better of the perfection floating in the tank before him. At most, it should stop after short twenty-four years of Gaian life, the prime years of a normal, sentient adult in term of strength and will.

No, at this point, he should no longer call this creature an “it”. It possessed the genitals of what made up a male specimen of average height. To be precise, “he” was the perfect Genome, his precious Angel of Death, the harbinger of war and the savior of the ancient masters of his homeland.

He had crafted this specimen to be born a young adult like most of his Genome creations. Yet, this one will be the bearer of beauty and charm, one who should be able to manipulate others’ will with his appearance alone. He will be born with a great knowledge of language comprehension and speech like the rest of his siblings, meaning he will be quick to understand his meaning of life, thus ready to hold conversations with him and the Gaians. He will know the basic skills of eating, socializing, toileting, everything that will make him a fully capable citizen of the Gaian society. With the soul he gifted him, no sane or insane Gaians will be able to tell him apart from another brethren. He will be a normal human of beauty with a long silver tail to match the appearance of the ancient Terrans.

With his social skills and look, he will propel Gaia into a fast catalyst that will lead to the rebirth of Terra, the planet of his creators. After all, his initial plan to plant the gigantic parasitic Iifa Tree on Gaia millenniums ago had recently begun to follow the path of failure, even after creating the Soul Divider to disrupt the cycle of souls faster. With the work of the Iifa Tree and the Soul Divider to create the Mist to send the creatures of Gaia into wars crumbling to dust with the invention of the airships fueled by the Mist, he had to plan something else to incite a war. Wars were the fastest way to bring death upon the world. Death by mass, combined with the Iifa Tree and the Soul Divider together, meant no soul will reach Gaia’s crystal. Without any soul returning to the crystal meant it will weaken, perhaps, one day, enough for Terra’s crystal to fusion with Gaia’s crystal, thus saving Terra’s dormant souls.

When the eyes of the specimen began to flicker, Garland knew it was time to let his precious angel out.

As soon as Garland took hold of the control stand, the fluid sank down and vanished from the tank, leaving the slumbering Genome on the ground surface. The cables attached to his limbs and the synthetic umbilical cord automatically detached from him, freeing the creature from everything that had nourished him so far. From now on, he will have to sustain by himself, something he should be capable of. After the machine dried the sleeping specimen, the pod opened, letting Garland give a cautious inspection on his creation.

Slowly, the angel opened his lids, revealing his bright, intense blue eyes filled with a young, pure and uncorrupted soul bursting with life. Stirring from his torpor, the silver-haired Genome blinked, confused with the life that was granted to him, surprised by his own moving limbs before a small rush glimmered into them like an electrostatic charge running across his body.

Minutes elapsed. The young Genome was able to make normal use of his limbs, including his moving furred appendage which he now stared at with a sparkle of curiosity. This gave him awareness of his own existence, of his life into the world of unknown which he will be tasked to explore, to destroy and to revive.

To explore, he’ll have to look at his surroundings. His shining blue eyes stumbled upon the dark tall creature before him. His vision trailed after the being from his feet until it latched upon his eyes that were filled with authority.

“It is time for you to rise, my Angel of Death.”

Startled by the sudden spoken voice of the dark creature, the Genome bumped slightly from his position. From his instincts, he knew the creature had addressed him by the look in his eyes and the tone of voice, but he was not sure what to make out of them. He was the very subject of whatever the thing said. The Genome remained static and his stare narrowed with a blend of curiosity and concern.

“You are a prototype, a special Genome gifted with a soul on your own with a free will. With it, you will serve me. You will be tasked with the purpose of creating a war that will kill the Gaians. You will be the harbinger of Gaia’s death and the savior of Terra.”

The entire time Garland had spoken the words, the prototype had not let his sight away from him. The way he talked and his deep tone intrigued him, like he wanted to find out more of this personage. He didn’t know why he should be listened, but he knew he had to pay attention, or he might suffer some consequences.

However, there was something else that caught his concern. When he was able to control his limbs, he soon found out that his furred tail moved on its own and couldn’t be controlled that easily. Curious about it, he grabbed it with his hands, shocked to feel the touch of his own appendage like it should not be part of his body. Perplexed by the Genome’s sudden lack of attention, Garland adopted a louder tone, getting his awareness once again.

“Yes, you are to bring wars onto the world of Gaia. You will be the catalyst of the calamity needed to disrupt the cycle of souls. With the help of the Iifa Tree and Soulcage, the souls you will wipe out will not be able to return to Gaia’s crystal, and it will weaken without its souls. Only then, we will fusion Terra and Gaia’s crystals to form the new Terra. You will revive the Terran souls and our ancient civilization back to its glory, with the Terrans living in the new world.”

The prototype blinked. He still was uncertain of anything or how important the dark man made his words sounded like. Suddenly, he blinked more rapidly when a dust was caught in the orbit of an eye. The Genome was overwhelmed by an abrupt need of rubbing his eye to get that bothersome dust out. Garland had lost the Genome’s attention once more and he huffed with an obvious exasperation, hoping for the prototype to notice it.

But nothing was obvious to a creature that had just barely been born to the unknown.

“Because you are gifted with a soul, unlike the rest of your kin, I shall provide you with a proper name. You will be named after the God of War from the ancient Terra. Your name will be Kuja.”

The name arose another sparkle into the Genome’s eyes, like that particular word will bear its importance through his life. It was like an honor to own a name, and because of it, the prototype struggled with his tongue and his lips to use them for the first time in his short existence. He wished to imitate the man into speaking the word, clear and sharp.

“… K-Ku… ja… aa…” the young Genome tried to speak, but it did not come out like he wanted.

And Garland certainly didn’t want Kuja’s speech to come out like this either.

Troubled by his creation’s way of speaking, the old android man raised an eyebrow. He had spent years crafting Kuja into perfection, and he was starting to see the many subtle flaws into his angel. No, Kuja was supposed to be the absolute Genome. He should, at least, be able to understand everything his master said! Garland added, “Kuja is your name, yes.”

Hearing the word a second time brought more attention and light to the young prototype. “Kuja… i-is your n-name, yes,” he parroted after his master in such a shaking voice that’d remind Garland of a young toddler speaking his first sentence.

At least, his speech was becoming better, but this was not enough for the old android man. This whole meeting session was not only becoming tiresome, but it caused uncertainties to Garland. This was not right… Wasn’t Kuja supposed to have a basic knowledge of language comprehension like the rest of his Genome siblings? All the previous soulless Genomes he had created were able to hold conversations and understand everything he said from the second they were out of their creation pods, so what was wrong with his Angel of Death? He was supposed to be a special case.

Technically speaking, if these flaws truly made him, then Kuja was still a special case…

Decided to take a more authoritarian posture with his folded robotic arms, Garland approached the smaller creature and asked him another important question. “Do you actually understand the purpose and meaning of your life?”

Disappointed that the important word hadn’t been spoken, Kuja lost the interest Garland sought from him. The young Genome went back into poking his moving tail by trying to get total control over it, and he became frustrated to see that he was failing at it. The dark old man grew more worried and anxious of his angel’s lack of attention. “Kuja,” Garland called, and this time, Kuja turned to him, the light of curiosity coming back in his eyes. “You need to pay attention.”

“Kuja, you need t-”

“ENOUGH!!!”

The instinct of fear rushing in for the first time ever in his brief life, Kuja yelped to Garland’s sudden scream at him. Scared of the man, the puny Genome rushed by crawling to a corner of the room few meters away and bent himself into a fetal position, shivering and fearing for his life. Still completely visible to the mean old man, Kuja’s despair rose as he tried hiding his self with his tail and arms, thinking it’d cover him from any intent just like a dreading toddler would have done.

Garland realized his first mistake into conceiving this unique Genome. Kuja was not an adult as he appeared. Behind the veil of a beautiful young adult man was the soul of a simple, ignorant youth. Kuja was a child in mind.

Dammit.

Of course, the man-child was in complete view to the furious old man. His anger rising, Garland came closer to Kuja, projecting his shadow over the trembling Genome whose eyes were filled with terror, the terror to see his life and soul taken away. He had been barely born into this world but he already feared to return to the world of the nothingness he just came from. As Garland approached, Kuja’s shivering intensified and he soon hid his face against his knees.

Breathing heavily, Garland widened his orbits and furrowed his brows, exhibiting anger and exhaustion to the scared Genome. “J-Just… stop repeating everything I say!” Even without hearing the important word, or rather, the name, Kuja knew the mean old man was addressing him. He didn’t understand his master’s words, but from the strange facial expression on the man’s face and his tone of voice, he knew this was not meant to be nice. After all, Kuja could understand the meaning of displayed reactions.

Kuja knew he was being threatened and he feared for his life, because this old man had the absolute power to take it away from him at any time, he could tell.

Thankfully for the frail Genome, Garland did not bring him to his end. The old man took a step back, allowing light to be cast upon him again. While Kuja had settled down, he still was afraid of dying by the old man. Garland couldn’t help but sigh, already exasperated by his own creation after only few minutes of awareness. His thoughts were filled with concerns over the prospect of Kuja’s next years. What will the future yield for his first Angel of Death? Was this how he should conceive his next angel?

No! He had created a mistake, a failure!

“He is supposed to understand everything I say!” Garland exclaimed his frustrated thoughts out loud, never minding if Kuja understood his raging words or not. His angel's reaction no longer mattered. “His soulless brethren were created to understand everything from the start, just as he is! Where did I go wrong? Is this because I have provided him with a soul? Is he truly a failed prototype? So many years were poured and wasted to mold and forge him into perfection! This is no perfection, no strategist, no harbinger of war! This is nothing but a newborn in the body of a man!”

* * *

Later that day, when Garland came back to check on his only Genome with a soul in the room he left him, Kuja sat in the same corner, maintaining the same terrified pose. Garland gave the man-child a long stare, which picked up the young creature’s interest. Garland noticed the sparks of life and potential in his longing blue eyes, and after giving it another thought, he decided it might be better letting this one live on and perhaps succeed or fail with his given purpose of life. After all, his calculation of his granted twenty-four years lifespan will be enough to shape this unique Genome into something more convenient for that period of time. Discarding his soul to make him like his soulless siblings would bring nothing but more wasted years from having confectioned his Angel of Death.

Garland will have to take notes of this one’s failures and successes. Observing Kuja experiencing his life with a soul was the key to conceive a better Angel.

Somehow, the old man was glad he had allowed him a chance.

Kuja learned how to speak and understood words fast enough. In one month of existence, the newborn had become closer to what made up a true young man, having learned how to read, to speak on his own without parroting his master and his kin, and thus holding more complex conversations. He could count, explore and use cognitive responses and reactions like a sentient creature with a soul. He even understood the meaning of his life as well as important concepts like life and death, the planets Terra and Gaia and more sophisticated knowledge.

Thanks to his developing mind, Kuja soon deemed his soulless Genome kin as boring and uninteresting. With so few living things on Terra, his curiosity on life were drawn toward the few scarce monsters on his planet, the friendly but rare Moogles, the aggressive Silver Dragons that Garland had created millenniums ago and finally, his master himself, Garland. The evidence that Kuja had begun to avoid the other Genomes for being boring marked this as a part of his successes. That will of his own was the reason Garland had created him to begin with. With that will, his angel will be able to comply with his commands without being given too literal orders like he had to do with the other Genomes.

But providing a being a personality of his own had its downsides.

For the first few months of his life, Kuja had no one except Master Garland. The Moogles avoided him for being too familiar with Garland as they feared the old man. The monsters roaming on Terra were too aggressive to even let Kuja approach them, like they were devoid of souls but instead were filled with nothing but instincts. The few Silver Dragons soaring around were the fruit of a reproduction program, which few selected Genomes were tasked to give them care and sustenance so they will be released to Gaia later. For his safety, Kuja was forbidden to approach them. With only Garland to hold conversation with, Kuja clung to him wherever he was going.

But the old android man despised being constantly followed and he would shoo the unique Genome away.

Kuja was unable to grasp why, but he didn’t like being shooed away. So, he continued to cling to his master, thinking it was the right thing to do until he was given a violent slap on the cheek that hurled him hard to the ground.

For the first time, Kuja experienced physical pain and the sight of blood. His body hurt, but it also hurt beneath his core because he sensed the indifference and the hate from everyone. He had discovered suffering, and he didn’t like it either.

Why did Garland hate him? And if he hated him, why did Garland monitor him on hourly basis? The old man provided him clothes, food and home, but he hated him. Kuja did not understand, and it enraged him.

It was around this time Garland began to see more changes in Kuja’s behavior, where the young Genome was starting to avoid his master’s presence and disobey some carefully chosen orders. Garland was seen as his sole parental figure, and he became a means of challenge. From what the old man had been taught from the ancient living Terrans, Kuja acted like anyone in a growth phase called adolescence. Teenagers sought adventures and exciting thrills that offered shivers down their spine, and defying Garland was becoming his one of his favorite pastimes.

_Kuja, it is time for you to learn your lessons about Gaia’s continents._

_No._

_Kuja, come eat._

_No._

_Kuja, if you do not comply with my order, you know the consequences._

_Shut up, old man._

Calling him “old man” was one of the first deeper signs determining the assets that will make Kuja what he will be later. Garland saw this as another development needed for Kuja to become a rightful Angel of Death, and yet, he could not get himself to accept that nickname. Why did he hate that name so much?

Possibly because it was the first time in his five-thousand years of existence that Garland was being called something else than “Master Garland”. Just as Kuja had to adapt himself to his surrounding environment, Garland will have no choice but to do the same with his angel. After all, he had to let him live to note his faults.

Soon, rather than showing any interest in the knowledge that Garland was trying to assimilate in him, Kuja spent hours into his given meager home alone reading books depicting science and magic. Thanks to his curiosity, the Genome quickly learned how to turn his spiritual powers into magic spells, with Fire as his first. He came to learn of the basic scientific terms and concepts used by the ancient Terrans which he wished to develop to make life easier for all. This side of Kuja came out as a convenience to Garland, one of the few successes he took note of his angel since the Genome was created to be a vessel with a grandiose potential for magic. To Garland, magic and science were the keys to start a successful war on Gaia.

However, Kuja showed no interest into using these assets and talents for Garland’s scheme, nor that he truly wanted to destroy lives on another planet.

At least, not yet.

In fact, Garland had yet to send Kuja on Gaia to explore its civilization. To start a war, Kuja will have to learn about Gaian cultures. Knowing about science and magic will come to nothing if the young man never experienced Gaia’s life himself.

To propel Kuja into learning about Gaia, Garland sent him to the least occupied continent on the planet to begin gradually. Shoving him into a Gaian civilization too fast might have negative repercussions on him, and the least Garland wished was to see Kuja fail furthermore. The ancient Gaians used to call this area the Outer Continent, where there was no Mist to contaminate the minds of the living things.

He was not even certain if his plan to send Kuja on the Outer Continent was fruitful.

During his first time on Gaia, Kuja did not find much intriguing living species even though they were said to all possess a soul. There was not much except for the rare vegetation and small creatures called insects. Plants were simple multicellular beings with no features for the normal communication he was familiar with, created by the planet’s seeds to sustain others’ lives and to produce the oxygen needed to breathe. Insects were invertebrates that were too different from him to have complex interactions with, save for crushing them for bothering him too much. This bare wasteland bored the Genome and he complained that he’d rather stay on Terra having mindless conversations with his fellow siblings.

Garland advised him to check on the more sentient creatures instead. Eventually, Kuja visited scarce flourishing forests with bigger trees, bushes and grasses. He was shocked to find more creatures roaming around, mostly small mammals, birds, reptiles and a bigger variety of insects. Most of them would run away at the sight of the Genome. However, there were few creatures that would rather not go on without a fight, and Kuja soon realized they were monsters and predators on the same level as the aggressive ones on Terra. Having practiced his magic plenty of times on Terra, Kuja was able to battle most with no problem, but he’d escape the ones that were proven too difficult to fight.

Kuja thought it was wiser to observe them from distance. It was during these times the Genome discovered few noteworthy details that was unfamiliar to any sentient creatures of Terra. The animals on Gaia fought, stole and killed for survival, all for the sake of creating a family via reproduction, where they would procreate and make sure their species perpetuated another generation.

But there was a particular aspect from them that caught his attention. Mainly, it was the way the more social animals interacted to keep their bond, that invisible thread holding beings together. From what Kuja had read in the Terran books, the animals of the same species were exhibiting affection by cuddling each other with their muzzles brushing on the others softly. It seemed to grant them warmth and joy with a lasting friendship, and that concept of having friends and a loving family was something new to Kuja.

Garland was the only one he had once thought of being a family, and Kuja realized that he had never shown affection to him before. Perhaps this was why Garland shooed him away. Thinking he understood the concept, the next time he came back to Terra to let his master know of his findings, Kuja did something unexpected.

He laid his hands on Master Garland before he brushed his face on his chest.

For few seconds, Kuja experienced that warmth and joy he had seen from the creatures on Gaia. The young man remained like this, glad to be alive and enjoy this blessing moment until bigger hands grabbed him to the shoulders and threw him away. Kuja went straight to the ground where he sustained few wounds. Whining with pain, the Genome looked up to see his master telling him to never do this again.

Garland still hated him. Kuja felt alone.

He did not understand why he was so lonely and unloved, but his hatred for the old man started to rise from now on.

Desperate for affection, Kuja went to hug the other Genomes to see if he could somehow wake a hidden soul out of them. Of course, none of the Genomes had given him a proper reaction but standing there doing nothing, staring at him with their usual vacant eyes. He tried going after the Moogles, the only other living sentient beings of Terra, but just like Garland, they would shove him away for being Garland’s underling. The monsters were out of question, but what remained were the Silver Dragons that the nursing Genomes were taking care of.

However, he made the mistake of going after a grown adolescent dragon. Trying to stroke its mane, the dragon clawed him with its gigantic leg, bringing him to unconsciousness. If it was not for Garland’s fast action, Kuja would have become a corpse.

Watching as Garland was tending to his injuries had momently given Kuja hope that his master cared for him, that he was doing this out of love and friendship, just like these parents and children animals he’d seen on Gaia. However, Kuja realized there was no love, because Garland made it clear that he helped him survive for the sole reason of needing him to proceed with his goal to fusion Terra and Gaia, and nothing more.

Kuja was swamped by sadness, and then madness which he tried to tame, fearing to disappoint his master.

It was not long after that Kuja returned to Gaia to observe more creatures on Gaia. One day, he discovered some odd but fascinating structures above a valley with small dark creatures residing in the constructed buildings. What were more shocking were the particular details that made these creatures more sentient than anything he had seen so far on Gaia.

They spoke the same language as him.

Not only that, they reasoned, they wore clothes, they stood on two feet and they greeted each other a lot.

Unlike him and his Genome kind, these creatures were smaller and stubbier, bearing dark, green-ish skin tones and they possessed no tail. While they were speaking his language, their dialect was completely different from his. When he could say he spoke with more refined words, these sentient creatures deformed words to the point Kuja could not recognize most of them. Their very lively ways of approaching him and their strange speech scared Kuja away, now wishing he never had to contact them again.

Kuja might be a rebel teenager in his depth, but Garland concluded he was still a scared child who barely had any experience with social skills and life. The old man noted this as another failure, but he could not renounce on his angel yet.

Later, Kuja was told the friendly creatures he met were called the Dwarves. Despite their strange nature and odd behaviors, Garland told him they were part of the sentient, intelligent specimens of Gaia. Like the more social wild animals, the Dwarves lived in harmony in one group, all gathered in a same area with erect buildings and structures they called a town, a village or a city. His fear of them subduing, Kuja began to observe them from afar to see how they acted and how they fared. Unfortunately for him, the Dwarves always found him spying on them, unaware of being the subjects of his observations. Whenever they spotted him, Kuja ran away and they were starting to call him the Frightened Ghost due to his overall pale complexion.

Yet, his observations on the Dwarves brought some lights to his notes.

When the Gaian animals would keep their bonds with gentle touches and contacts, the Dwarves would maintain their friendships with words, keeping their physical contacts as low as possible. At first, this had surprised Kuja, grasping that he might have been wrong about trying to cuddle with Garland earlier. He also noted that the Dwarves would go wild with the contacts mostly for reproduction purposes. The parents and children would proceed with hugs, noses poking and sometimes kisses to the cheek, but nothing more.

Perhaps that was one of the main things that differed them from the other animals. Were all sentient and intelligent creatures behaving like the Dwarves too?

Because they posed no threat to Garland’s plan, the old man advised Kuja to leave them for now. However, Garland knew Kuja had to be more careful with the other sentient creatures, and among them, one species called Humans which ruled over Gaia as the main race. They were told to look like a normal Genome, but with a broadened variety of physical features that differentiated each of them, making each human unique. They sported different skin, hair and eyes colors with completely different body builds. Another way to differentiate a Human from a Genome was their lack of a tail.

Because they were supposed to look like him, Kuja became intrigued about meeting these Humans.

* * *

It was after observing the life on Gaia that Kuja truly began to hate Garland to the point he found himself utterly disgusted for having once seen him as a loving parental figure. It was an old time he wished he could forget and throw away in the deepest abyss of the void. If the Terran technology would allow him to suppress some unwanted memories, this was one he wished he could trash out of his mind. This hatred shaped his heart, his core, into a soul that hated everyone, and especially the Genomes for never acting whenever Garland hurt him. The mean old man had begun to use some physical attacks to tame his angel, thus forcing Kuja’s life purpose into him. These violent interactions might allow his soulless kin to welcome the Terran souls quicker, and this intensified Kuja’s hatred for them. He had been brought to life for that sole reason to save them.

He hated everything with a burning passion. Yet, he loved being alive.

Things had gotten especially worse when Kuja first learned the concept of freedom, when beings were free without an authority to watch over them. All animals were free to do whatever they wanted to survive, without the need to do the biddings for anyone else. These wild animals looked happy to go about their businesses, and Kuja wished for that same happiness to himself. He wanted to be free like these Gaians, to be different from his Terran kin. If he couldn’t get the love he coveted, the least he should have was freedom. He couldn’t even say that exploring Gaia alone was a form of freedom itself when he was aware Garland kept monitoring him on regular basis using their war airship, the Invincible.

Kuja hated that he was created for the sole purpose to start a war, a war that he didn’t want or understand.

He wanted a free life of his own.

When Kuja was about four years old, he thought to be old enough to ask Garland the impossible question.

“Master Garland. Can I be free?”

The question brought a long silence from the old man, and Kuja was infuriated. He wanted an answer now, and Garland certainly wasn’t ready to answer his pleas. Kuja went as far as pulling the old man’s cape, hoping it will gain his master’s concern, but the old man was not flinching. He did not want to flinch. He was purposely ignoring his angel, Kuja knew this. Desperate, the young Genome was about to cast Fire on him until an answer was finally given.

“No.”

What a blunt answer, but at least he got one. Not the one he wanted, yet the one he expected. Furious, he asked the same question again, only to get the same short answer. Garland was not ready to free him, especially after having spent years to create him for one purpose. “If I cannot be free, then why did you give me a free will?!” Kuja shouted after Garland. “Is it to make my life insufferable?!”

Yet, the brutal slap he got after the question was unexpected. As Kuja tended to his bleeding mouth after the painful strike on his cheek with a small Cure spell, Garland turned his back away from him, openly calling him a failure.

When Kuja left him, Garland sighed. Letting this failed prototype wandering around had its downside, but he realized that having granted him a free will and creating him an adult from the start made Kuja’s taming a difficult task. He had to find another way to make him more compliant to his will, but ridding him of his soul was not the right answer. He’d be just like the other soulless Genomes, with no true powers than his current weak magic.

Still, Kuja’s progresses were outstanding for one that should have been a failure. Garland almost regretted having programmed him with a shorter lifespan of twenty-four years, a fact that he thought was wiser to keep for himself.

Somehow, from the first time Garland had called him a failed prototype, Kuja’s skills growth went better and faster than he had envisioned. Kuja knew the concept of the cycle of souls and everything related, and he now had a better understanding why a war was needed and why he had to develop himself to be able to manipulate individuals at will. Garland forced him to meet Soulcage, the Soul Divider, in the depth of the Iifa Tree, to understand where souls came from and where they should go after death, thus nourishing the planet’s core with memories of the departed. Garland was now certain that with the assets Kuja had attained, he now could trust his creation will create that war on an unimaginable scale in time.

For this, Kuja, alone, must explore the edges of the continent and find more civilizations.

Still, Kuja’s disobediences had no limits, and to remedy this, Garland decided to reprimand his creation to force compliance back at him, the next time he will act like a brat. Garland knew physical attacks were not enough and it was soon time to strike down the man-child with fear instead. Fear will reduce his Genome into a weakened state of mind where he will be easier to mold into a compliant servant. It was either obey, being beaten until unconsciousness occurred or worse, having his soul claimed back. At first, when Garland revealed the grave consequences of his next disobedience actions, Kuja feared to lose all he possessed. Having a soul and a life on Terra was a rather unique privilege, and now Kuja knew he’d lose both if he disobeyed the master who held absolute power over him when needed.

But rules were made to be broken.

When Kuja acquired enough knowledges of more powerful magics, Kuja defied Garland by sending Fira and Blizzara spells at him, trusting to have the higher grounds. Unfortunately, a puny four years semblance of life was not enough to defeat five thousand years of experiences. It was already a lost competition to the poor silver-haired Genome. He might have been gifted with an extraordinary potential for magic and a bigger potential than normal others, but four years were not enough to forge his magic. After Kuja’s meager attacks, Garland not only rebutted with a much more devastating magical attack called Flare, but he also proceeded to cast a Sleeping spell conceived to tame unfortunate Genomes courageous enough to fight the old man. Of course, for three thousand years since the creation of the first Genome, only Kuja had achieved such a precarious act of defiance, and that came with serious consequences.

When Kuja regained consciousness, he found himself in a completely dark room with no light, no door and no sounds beside his own breathing and his heartbeat. It was his first time enclosed in such room, and he didn’t know where he was. Surely somewhere in Bran Bal, and knowing his master, he suspected Garland to be behind his confinement.

Well, too bad. Regardless, Kuja had always loved the silence and peace when needed. It was in these times he enjoyed being alone to read and learn about science and magic. As the room was in complete darkness, Kuja began to ignite a Fire spell to bring light.

… Except he realized that he couldn’t cast any spell at all. Was there an anti-magic field around?

Well then, he’ll have to find the door by himself in this dark room. After getting on his feet, using his hands, he scrutinized the surrounding… only to discover that the room was a very small one with no visible door handle anywhere. His head even touched the ceiling, forcing him into a bending position.

The young man gave away a sigh. Confining him in a tight, wholly dark room wasn’t going to make him flinch. The least he wanted was to concede in front of the old man. Surrendering would confirm that Kuja was indeed the failure Garland kept reminding him. The old man certainly did not deserve the benefit of being right!

Kuja sat down, finding a comfort zone and pose, trying to think of pleasant thoughts; the beauty of Gaia’s wild life, the freedom of wild animals, the happy Dwarves, the sounds of the chanting insects, the noises… his heartbeat, his breathing… Wait, no… The sounds of the breeze, his heartbeat, his breathing… the flow of the blood in his veins…

It was getting harder to think of something else. The noises of his own body and the strange constant buzz ringing inside his ears began to take over everything. He started speaking to himself like he was having a conversation with someone else. He wasn’t certain of what to discuss, but the sounds of his heartbeat began to be louder than everything. And soon, the sweat on his face streamed across his forehead as his breath, louder and more erratic, accelerated out of panic.

Now, he could not take his focus away from the pang in his heart that rattled in his chest like he was being punched from the inside. He hadn’t counted the minutes, but he surely hadn’t even spent an hour in the room.

It didn’t take long before despair and fear overcame. His mind refused to succumb to defeat, but his body began moving on his own as he went to bang himself on the invisible walls, crying Garland’s name and begging him to let him out. “G-Garland!!! Master Garland…! L-Let me out, p-please!!!”

When Garland finally let him out, he asked Kuja if he was going to defy him again. As expected, the answer he was given was the most unclear of all.

“I don’t know.”

Nonetheless, Kuja had been put in that absolute isolation room more than once, each time always longer than the previous confinement. However, after each time, Kuja hardened his mind, spending his time in this room to plan the most twisted ways on how he will bring demise to his malevolent master. If only he could shut him before dismembering his robotic limbs… No, better leave the man conscious and be aware of all the magnificent torturing manners he will put him through. How about leaving his body under a crushing machine, enough to prevent him from moving, before clawing his eyes out of his orbits? Oh yes, he will enjoy these cathartic pleasures to watch Garland suffer. He would dream of this, and then, when Garland will be gone, it was time to take on his Genome kin for being the main cause of his own demise, sadness and madness. These soulless siblings… no, not siblings, just “things”… They did not deserve anything from him.

He'll rule over them, just as Garland ruled over them… and him. And then, when he’ll be done with them, he’ll rule over Gaia. Both worlds will be his, and his alone.

With the gaining knowledge and growth of mind, Kuja hated Garland and the Genomes with a burning passion. However, he had to wait before making a wild move. Garland’s powers were beyond his reach, and until he became stronger than him, he will not confront him to his ultimate demise.

Yes, he’ll get his revenge, and then, he will finally find his happiness.

* * *

After years of exploring the Outer Continent, after reaching his seventh year of life, Kuja had finally found what he sought for.

Creatures walking on their two legs, all gathered in a town beyond the Dwarves’ town in size and population. He could count thousands of them in one settling, walking around with their own kin and with some tame animals and monsters. Just as Garland had told him, they sported different physical features, making them easier to tell apart. Black, brown, blond or purple hair, blue, brown or green eyes. Adults were around his height, some taller, some smaller. The younger folks full of energy were smaller with skin as smooth as his, with some bearing darker or lighter skin color. They were walking and running around, speaking and socializing with each other like a huge family. They were one of the sentient civilizations roaming on Gaia, similar to the ones he had been taught of the ancient Terrans before their planet’s decay. The way they interacted fascinated him. It was nothing like the mindless, literal conversations he held with his fellow Genomes.

These creatures were Humans.

Kuja was told Humans looked very much like Genomes without a tail, but there was a peculiar detail that Garland had never mentioned about Humans before.

These Humans bore a horn on their forehead.

When he asked Garland about this, the old man remained perplexed for a moment. Garland knew the human species exhibited a large amount of diversities, but he had never seen one with a horn. Perhaps they were simply another race of Humans, he told Kuja.

But unlike the Dwarves, Humans had one feature that was largely more noticeable on them whenever they were of happier mood. These Humans curled up their lips, and when happier, they would often let out these odd, repetitive sounds deep from their throats.

Garland told him they were smiling and laughing.

Of course, he had heard the Dwarves laugh like this, but… smile? That facial expression was a new concept to him. None of the Genome in Bran Bal had ever smiled, and with the hardened face on the Dwarves, smiles from them must have gone unnoticed by Kuja. Garland had never smiled either, and neither Kuja had. Why would he? Smiling was associated with happiness, and Kuja wasn’t even sure if he had been happy in his life once.

Smiling and being happy… sounded so pleasant.

Alone in his room in Bran Bal, Kuja stared at himself before a mirror. For a long minute, he studied the features of what made up his face; his blue eyes, his silver brows, his long, silky and feathered silver hair, his refined nose, his smooth cheeks and his small lips. Using his fingers, he gently brushed his cheeks, his brows, his nose and finally his lips.

Then he curled his lips up.

… Strange, he didn’t look any happier, but the move gave him a small pain to the cheeks. Smiling was so new to him he wasn’t sure if he did it correctly, but he was certain the smile before him wasn’t looking natural.

That false smile brought more sadness to him.

…

Despite his curiosity on Humans, Garland warned him to not get too close to them right away because they were dangerous creatures. While the Dwarves of Conde Petie were tranquil and mostly pacifist, the Humans were unpredictable beings. They might be hostile to strangers that did not bear the same overall appearances as them, making Kuja’s tail and his lack of horn a problem. Following Garland’s advice, unlike the way he met the Dwarves, Kuja spied on the Humans, always wearing a long cloak with a hoodie to hide his furred appendage and his forehead.

Thankfully, no Humans took notice of Kuja’s presence among them. To them, he passed as another random individual from their peers. They paid no heed to his presence, as long as he didn’t make any contact with them. To make sure he was never noticed, he avoided the crowded places.

After months of spying, he still wasn’t sure how to start a war. Was he missing something?

Kuja made a shocking discovery about them, one day, when he spied after two Humans exploring a nearby wood. One of the men was being attacked by a wild Griffin. His companion was overwhelmed by a surge of fear and panic, and taken by a spur of courage, he unsheathed his sword and rushed to the monster. After sustaining few hits by the creature, the courageous man screamed and ran after it, this time with a glowing body like a sudden energy bursting out of him, manifested by a strange light. What happened next went so fast Kuja had a hard time focusing when the Human was finally able to defeat the Griffin in mere seconds and save his friend from death.

As with all discoveries, Kuja reported it to Garland, speaking of the glowing Human as this was probably a fact of interest. After all, the Human had appeared much stronger and faster during that short period, which could be a convenient aspect from the Humans. Upon learning about it, Garland went to shut himself in the ancient Terran archives, allowing no one to bother him. This brought relief upon Kuja who was freed from his master’s attention for a week.

Yet, old instincts were hard to kill off.

After a week, Kuja intruded himself in the library, anxious of his master’s lack of presence when the Genomes revealed that Garland still had not exited the room since he first entered. When he opened the door to the room, he gazed at Garland who had been busy listening and watching a three-dimensional hologram of an ancient Terran speaking of gibberish Kuja did not understand.

“Hmm, yes, the way to make a perfect Genome with a soul,” Garland whispered to himself, keeping on listening to the projected moving image. Taken aback by the comment, Kuja frowned at him. “How did this simple fact slip from me? I should have taken this in consideration when I conceived him, seven years ago.”

The old man rarely spoke his thoughts out loud, so this had taken Kuja by surprise. At the very least, Kuja was aware he was the subject of this monologue, but he did not understand why. “What are you talking about?” he asked his master.

“It is none of your concern,” Garland said without ever turning to his creation, irritated by his presence. “I advise you to return to your magic books, or better, return to Gaia. Go and learn about the Humans.”

Infuriated, Kuja shut the door to the old man, leaving him into whatever dreams he was alluding.

A dream that might come true, thanks to that leak about the glowing Human Kuja brought up a week earlier. It sparked an old memory in the depth of Garland’s knowledge, something he had forgotten after millenniums of existence. After researching in the Terran archives, he rediscovered the power of Trance, a power that each individual with a soul was granted with, let it be a Terran, a Gaian or any inhabitant of a planet with souls and sentience. The way to awaken that hidden power was to provoke a surge of complex emotions like the ultimate wish to protect someone from death, just as with that glowing Human Kuja had witnessed.

But to achieve such a high level of emotive outbursts, one needed to develop complex emotions. Only now, Garland realized his true mistake when conceiving Kuja. Because he was artificially created as an adult, Kuja had never experienced the childhood needed to develop these emotions, thus giving him no possible way to use Trance. As a matter of fact, creating Kuja as an adult made it impossible for Garland to fully mold him into absolute compliance and obedience either.

To make the perfect Angel of Death, he will need to create another Genome with a soul, and this one will not start a life as an adult. It will be an infant, one set to grow normally as if born from one male and one female progenitors. Not only this will allow it to develop the complex emotions needed to ascend Trance, but it will be uncorrupted from the beginning with a blank state, making it a very malleable angel. Yes, the next angel will become perfection after years, years that were nothing for an old man who had lived for five thousand years. Even having Terra’s decaying crystal in mind, Garland knew the crystal will last few more hundred years, and that was plenty to set his plan into motion.

Creating another Genome with a soul and with a unique appearance like Kuja will take years, however. Even with the given time, he still wished to see Terra’s revival soon to meet his creators again. Yet, if he’d use the same genetic setup of a normal Genome and give it a soul with a different program input into its mind, then…

Yes, this might work. Years of conceptions and forging a unique living creature will be reduced in short months.

* * *

“Master Garland, a Genome told me you have something for me.”

When Kuja came in the basement in the laboratory room, he hadn’t expected so many Genomes standing around taking notes around their much taller master. As all stood around one of these pods where all Genomes had found life, Kuja was curious on what kind of brethren was floating in the tank. He tried taking a peek, and yet he couldn’t see anything but the bubbles coming from the bottom and the cables from above that were attached to the living thing inside the tank. Garland turned around to see his servant waiting for him to say a word. The expression Garland bore on his face evoked an odd confidence that Kuja had never seen during his eight years of life.

Looking back at the angel, the old man spoke, “Ah, Kuja, you are here. Have you learned more about the Gaians?”

“Spare me of your questions,” Kuja retorted, the brows on his face hardening. He knew his master and his underlings were hiding something and he no longer wanted to be part of the oblivious ones. “What do you have for me?”

“You will see soon enough,” Garland responded with an unnatural certainty. Rising his voice at the others, he ordered, “My fellow Genomes. Step aside and let Kuja see him.”

… _Him_?

“Who’s him?” Kuja asked, widening his stare at the tank as the Genomes left a path to the pod for him. When he discovered the creature inside it, silence befell on him.

Inside the transparent pod, a small male Genome bathed in the light blue fluid, the cables from above planted under the skin of his limbs and his long umbilical cord to his stomach sustaining him. His flowing long blond hair and his tail danced with the flow of the bubbles like a ghostly, soaring spirit. His two hands formed into tiny fists positioned close to his mouth, as if sucking a thumb like a young infant. His small, round head rested near his knees, putting his small, frail body into a fetal position.

Yet, despite the same blond hair and tail that made up all his siblings’ appearance, this Genome looked much, much younger than all the others. Garland had only created Genomes with a fixated appearance to never grow older during their immortal life until given a soul, from an older child to a young adult. However, this was the first time a Genome was created this young. There was something Kuja was unable to explain that was drawing him toward the slumbering minuscule Genome, like a magnet gently forcing him to put his palms on the tank glass.

When he touched the glass, something drove him to step back in shock.

The little Genome opened his eyelids, revealing wide aquamarine eyes shining with a longing light, the same privileged light Kuja possessed. For a long, quiet minute, they gazed at each other, unable to leave their sight from the other.

This Genome child… no, not a child. An infant, that baby Genome… Did he truly have… a soul, too?

“Kuja,” Garland called his servant, maintaining his authoritarian tone. “Meet the next Angel of Death, Zidane.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to the FF wikia, Kuja means the planet Mars in the Hindu cosmogony, and Mars is the name of the Roman God of War.
> 
> The dark room punishment concept is inspired by several articles I’ve read and documentaries I’ve watched about experiments of people living in the darkness alone and these completely soundproof rooms where people won’t stay long inside.
> 
> I originally planned 8 pages for this chapter, but it’s 16 pages now… Is this too long? :(


	3. Chapter 2: Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES, the part I wanted to write. Also thanks again for all Kudos and comments!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

“Kuja. Meet the next Angel of Death, Zidane.”

This could not be true. He did not believe this would happen so soon. This was not right! Startled for another instant, he regained grasp of himself, taking few slow steps backward with eyes wide and mouth agape. He shook his head in confusion as thousands of questions crossed his mind, not expecting to get any answer. He looked back in the tank, narrowing his brows with fear only to find out that the baby Genome was still staring at him with broad pure eyes bursting with a sparkling curiosity and innocence. The infant was drawn to him like their souls were the magnets of life.

It was so odd, to call this infant an Angel of Death when it looked so puny, weak and even somehow unappealing, having the look and genetic setup of all his soulless siblings. That thing probably had no concept of death itself. However, having labelled this infant as an Angel right before he was even born only suggested one thing.

Zidane was meant to replace Kuja.

How… How will a baby even replace him? Kuja did not understand. He had seen it himself. On Gaia, infants were fragile and completely helpless. They were unable to do anything by themselves, they were noisy and annoying and they demanded and required care all the time. It was the very reason Garland had created the Genomes no younger than an old child! Making a baby Genome was a mistake! How could his master not see this from the start?

It will take so long, so many years, for that Zidane, that tiny infant with a soul, to ever reach where Kuja was to this day. Such chores and wasted years!

Yet, at the same time…

For a fragment of a moment, his mind was suddenly flooded by more pleasant thoughts with the prospect of having someone else with a soul on Terra, his own kin, to interact with. Zidane was going to be someone like him, one who will hold more than literal scientific and magic facts unlike the other Genomes. If everything went well, perhaps they will speak of anything and everything together, thus Zidane will become a new companion to Kuja.

Then he would not be alone anymore…

No, no… Garland truly destined Zidane as a replacement for Kuja, this was so obvious! The old man had no guilt to call him a failure at everything, despite his numerous successes. By becoming Kuja’s replacement, Garland will reclaim his soul, the very core that made him the individual he was. His memories, his experiences, his knowledge, all acquired for naught. This was a parody of life, a death worse than any type of physical torture.

Hence why, despite having regained his composure, Kuja’s sudden fear of what the future will yield for him was visible to the old man, thanks to his shaking tail giving him away.

No, he will not be replaced. Kuja held onto his life, and he will not let a puny, harmless angel take his place! He had to plan something to get rid of Zidane and fast before the years will progress and shape the infant into a powerful creature…

“I know what you are thinking,” Garland said behind him, startling the silver-haired Genome. “It is wiser for you to not dispose of Zidane, for then I will claim your soul and make you a mere puppet like the others.”

Dammit. Kuja might hate the old man, but Garland knew him too much. After all, he was his creator, his… father. How the simple concept of having thought of him as a father once disgusted him. Right. Kuja did fear to lose his soul, the most precious thing a living being could hold on to, especially on this bare, ugly planet. Even if Garland did not hold control over his mind, he still possessed the absolute power over his life. Taking away his soul was one of the assets he could remove from him as naturally as breathing air.

It was so maddening to live in this sad fear with no way out.

“Kuja, you are to nurse this infant. You will raise him. You will shape him into the perfect Angel of Death with your knowledge.”

Yet, something was amiss.

If Kuja, and not Garland, will have to bear the responsibilities of nursing, then why was Zidane created as a harmless infant? He had seen it on Gaia! Infants required observation and care all the time! Adult Humans and adult Dwarves would devote all their times just to keep these things alive! Why did Garland want a baby Genome? How will a baby ever become a fearless Angel of Death?

And how will Kuja even find the time to explore Gaia as Garland wanted while taking care of Zidane? How will he do all of these tasks by himself?

“Master Garland, I… I don’t understand…”

“You do not have to understand anything,” Garland responded. The tone of his comment left Kuja the feeling of being grounded. “I have summoned you here because you are the only one suitable to take care of Zidane.”

The lack of a clear reasoning was becoming more infuriating for the silver-haired Genome. Hands turning into fists, like an angry young adolescent, Kuja hollered, “Why is he an infant?! Why don’t you take care of him yourself? I don’t have time for children!”

“Silence!” Garland’s blaring, deep voice echoed through Bran Bal, sending shivers down Kuja’s tail. “Kuja, you are in no position to question your new task. You will raise Zidane. I have created him as such, and that was my decision alone. His anatomy and functionality of a one-year-old infant will make your raising task easier. He will accompany you all the time and he will learn everything from you. Zidane will grow up like a normal Gaian infant until his growth will be slightly slowed down in his late childhood. Experiencing a life with a soul from this age will allow him plenty of time to develop emotional growth over the next years.”

Kuja shook his head again. Garland’s last sentence brought more confusion. This was getting weirder and more frustrating, knowing that most of his questions will never get any concrete answers. “What? What about emotions?” he asked, his last word sounding exasperate.

“Why bother?” the old android man uttered, turning around and leaving the silver-haired angel to his fate, with the rest of the soulless Genomes following their master. “You will see for yourself why this Angel of Death is superior to you.”

Left alone with the infant floating in the glass pod, Kuja remained still and glared at his master walking away and not even having the slightest concern for his servant. After all, why caring for a failure? Failures were to be discarded.

Wait a minute. Garland had forced Kuja the new task of becoming this baby Genome’s caregiver. An infant will take years to grow, perhaps one day, into a fine lad. This aspect alone signified that Garland was not ready to take Kuja’s soul away or dispose him anytime soon. This will allow him to live on for years, or at least until Zidane will be good enough on his own in a long, long time for someone like Kuja.

The frustration of his controlled life suddenly subdued when he left a long sigh of relief. Dying or becoming an empty vessel was the least of his worries now. This granted him more time to set his eventual plan to overthrow Garland one of these days. Only then, he will be freed from his master’s grip, and maybe he will get to rule over the others. Oh, how he will be overcome with joy and satisfaction to gain superiority over the old man he despised so much!

And if everything went well, he might even set his precious angel Zidane against that despicable android.

Speaking of the devil, that Zidane… Kuja was not certain what to expect with having an infant under his wing. He had no actual experience into caring for anything and even less a baby. All the knowledge he had acquired through his life were by observing animals, Humans and Dwarves sustaining their children. He never got to hold or touch one. Will he even be able to handle one child for the upcoming years? Anyhow, several years were not so short for an eight-year-old like him.

A one-year-old baby should know few things too, Kuja thought. They should be capable of few cognitive responses and some basic interactions. This was enough for Kuja to be confident of his own skills. Years of spying on Gaians were certainly not for naught. The next years with this infant won’t be so bad. It was better than being discarded in a way or another.

From afar, Garland ordered the Genome at the control stand to free the special baby from his glass cage. After the Genome complied with the order, the fluid in the tank dissolved. At the same time, the cables on the limbs and the umbilical cord detached automatically from the tiny body, with the infant reaching the bottom of the cage in an odd pose, his face and belly upward. Finally, when the glass rose to the ceiling, pushing Zidane to his life, his legs and arms kicked and hanged skyward like he was trying to reach higher grounds. After rolling around on his bare body, he managed to get on a sitting position, his wide gaze back at the silver-haired Genome who gulped in discomfort.

The awkward staring session lasted for a minute.

Thankfully, Zidane soon lost interest of the older Genome and decided to focus on his newly discovered furred appendage. He gazed at it with a shining curiosity and then the tip of his tail moved up and down slowly, as if the baby realized the extended limb was his and he was learning how to control it. He caught it with his clumsy and tiny fingers and fiddled with its fur coat. The sensation tickled him, and he broke into a giggle with a big smile.

A smile…

How was this possible? The harmless infant was already smiling into this world when he barely knew anything of his surroundings or even his life purpose. Despite having been designed to be a fearful Angel of Death, Zidane was the very image of innocence.

For now…

“Hey,” Kuja called the baby boy, but Zidane did not take notice of his call, still busy watching his tail moving, smiling and uttering joyful moans by catching and releasing his appendage. “I don’t get what’s so funny. We all have a tail. Why are you laughing at it?”

When Zidane still did not react to Kuja’s comment, the young man sighed, realizing that a baby such as him had an awful attention span. Decided to test something, Kuja sat beside the infant, bringing his own tail closer to Zidane, this time getting his attention. Like he was being hypnotized by the silver tail, whenever Kuja moved his tail, Zidane’s eyes trailed after it. Once again, the baby smiled and caught the tip of Kuja’s tail, moving it up and down before he giggled. If it took that for a baby to enjoy life, Kuja somehow wished he could have been a baby too, once upon a time.

Keeping his distance from his two angels, Garland observed them interacting. The confusion on Kuja was to be expected. After all, his main role to this great purpose of causing a world war had suddenly shifted to become an infant’s caregiver instead. However, Garland was more relieved to see how Zidane began his life and how his reaction with Kuja went. While Zidane’s start went very similarly as Kuja’s beginning, Zidane’s ways felt more natural. This was the normal process for a newborn infant of one year old to be curious like this.

It was the sign of possessing a pure soul.

If everything will go as planned, they should soon see each other as siblings.

Eventually, Zidane grew bored of Kuja’s tail. After he freed his tail, he released a long yawn, his wide mouth revealing few tiny teeth. With so few teeth, it will be difficult to determine what kind of food the baby must be sustained with. Now wishing to explore more of his unknown new world, Zidane stretched out his arms and body toward Garland and the other Genomes that were moving away from him. The stretch went too far and the baby awkwardly hit the ground. Thankfully, the incident didn’t seem to hurt the infant as he immediately got back on his rear in a sitting position.

The way he moved suggested Zidane was unable to walk or run properly. Unfortunately, this was an inconvenient feature for babies. Seeing that only the silver-haired Genome was close to him, the first individual he had ever latched his sight at, Zidane felt safer to stretch his arms at him, coveting Kuja’s presence.

Zidane smiled at Kuja again.

… Why was Kuja suddenly feeling warm?

“Take a good care of Zidane,” Garland reminded Kuja before he retreated from the laboratory with the other Genomes. “You know the consequences if you are to disobey me. Do not disappoint me.”

Kuja shuddered at the order. Whenever Garland would remind him of his fate as a slave of Terra, he’d wince with anger. _Yes, I know,_ he thought to himself. _How many times will you have to repeat that? You will dispose of my soul, and I’ll just be like the others._

“But I’m different! I’m not like the others!” he said out loud, with only Zidane to actually listen to his complaint. This was so strange for the infant to pay attention to him and to the way he spoke. Kuja began to focus on the baby on the ground who still had his puppy stare at him. “Even you, Zidane, have the same blond hair and tail like the others! I’m more unique than you’ll ever be, watch me!”

However, when he expected the baby to be terrorized by his remark, Zidane kept his wide gaze at him before he began to smile broad and laugh again. Outraged, Kuja exclaimed, “What? What’s so funny? Why are you even laughing? There is nothing funny about being like the others!”

Perhaps Kuja still could not understand infants very well…

After he was done with his laughs, Zidane extended his arms toward Kuja again like he was begging his older kin to take him. The sadder expression on his face hinted his need for warmth and transportation. Giving in another sigh, Kuja crouched over the infant and placed him in his arms, trying to imitate the human and dwarf parents he had seen on Gaia. Satisfied, Zidane left his limbs heavy and rested his head on Kuja’s shoulder. The baby must be exhausted from exploring this world for the first time in his life, after all.

The warmth from having the infant against his shoulder and chest gave an odd rush through Kuja’s body.

Kuja did not understand why, but he felt relief and calm with the baby resting on him.

When he exited the laboratory with the baby in his arms, none of the Genomes in Bran Bal paid any heed to him and their new angel. Walking around and trying to discuss of things with Zidane, Kuja began to search for a cloth to cover the baby’s naked body from the cold of this dead town. Before Kuja even reached his meager home, he found out that Zidane had already surrendered his consciousness on his shoulder, now deep in sleep. Kuja experienced the slow movement of the infant’s warm breathing on his chest.

Perhaps Kuja’s arms were enough to provide him the warmth needed for sleep.

… Somehow, he felt good about it.

Without thinking, Kuja covered the baby with a cloth he found in his room, careful to not wake him up. With it, Zidane’s breathing had gotten slower but mild, like the baby was enjoying being protected from the cold with both the cloth and Kuja’s arms. From the depth of his knowledge, Kuja knew this was the right thing to do to protect this infant.

* * *

The first day with Zidane added to his duty and life, with everything having gone smoothly, Kuja began to feel like a guardian.

All thanks to his knowledge and the hologram he discovered in the archive explaining how to feed a mammal infant without breastfeeding, Kuja borrowed a bottle from the Silver Dragon hatchlings caretakers. On the top of the bottle, a rubber material looking like a mammal nipple was conveniently shaped to feed the hatchlings, but Kuja thought this might work well on Genome infants. When Zidane woke up from his long slumber in Kuja’s arms, instinctively, he lightly opened his lips and positioned them close to Kuja’s chest, trying to catch his nipple. Startled by the move, Kuja bounced, shocking Zidane. However, when the silver-haired Genome introduced him the bottle with the rubber cup and the feeding formula inside, the infant stretched his hands toward the bottle, his eyes now beaming with fascination.

When Kuja gently placed the baby in his arm and used the other arm to slowly push the bottle to him, Zidane gripped the bottle with his tiny hands and put the cup to his mouth, sucking the formula. His eyes facing up, the baby tranquilly fed on the bottle content while giving a long and wide stare at Kuja. Feeling awkward, Kuja turned his face away from him, blushing from the innocent, intense gaze.

It was during the feeding moment that Zidane began to use a free hand, his feet and his tail to brush himself against Kuja’s body and face.

At first, Kuja felt uneasy, shocked by the touch and almost afraid of it. The only touches he had gotten from anyone on Terra so far were Garland’s violent slaps and strikes, and that was without even counting the near deadly attack from an adolescent Silver Dragon. For once, another Genome touched him, but the touches were tender and friendly as if Zidane enjoyed touching his caregiver.

Just like Gaian parents and children cuddling and giving affectionate pats and brushes.

Some of the most warming moves from Gaians were the strokes on the head, the nose-to-nose pokes and the hugs. Once in his early life, Kuja had tried these moves on Genomes who had not responded to his physical contacts and on Garland who had replied with a painful slap to his body. Desperate for a friend, Kuja had simply given up at one point.

But Zidane did not need Kuja to start cuddling to offer him the touch. He was already responding with some affectionate moves. Were these the natural way of an infant?

When Zidane finished his bottle, Kuja attempted something. Pulling the infant closer to him, Kuja used his own nose to mildly poke Zidane’s nose.

Zidane smiled wide.

The baby went as far as reaching out to his caregiver by using his two hands to caress his cheeks with his smile still on-going. Kuja couldn’t believe that Zidane was actually responding with more fond moves, and most of all, the baby appeared even happier from it.

Happiness…

Another warmth rushed through Kuja. This was so strange, so odd. He had never experienced this feeling before, but surprisingly, he was relaxed by it.

Kuja brushed Zidane’s cheeks with his fingers, and Zidane responded with a pat on his much bigger hand. When Kuja gave him a hug, Zidane attempted to wrap his small arms around him, but of course, he could not. Instead, the young infant did it with his tail.

Were these… love and friendship?

Garland did call Zidane his sibling, just like the other Genomes. However, Zidane was anything but like his soulless brethren. He had a soul, just like Kuja, just like the sentient and self-aware Gaians. Kuja never thought to call the others his siblings and worse, calling Garland his father. To him, he had no family, no friend, no one and no place to call home.

It was so odd, to be in the presence of this tiny Genome who had been created by the old man he despised so much with a burning passion. The latest creation meant to replace him someday was making this place feel more like a cozy home.

This was so confusing, and yet, Kuja did not seem to mind much. After all, eldest _brothers_ were supposed to be the more responsible ones in the family.

Right, Zidane was his younger _sibling_.

All this feeding, cuddling and gentle moves seemed to exhaust the young infant, and soon, he found slumber once again in Kuja’s arms. Tired as much, Kuja went to his room, careful to lay Zidane on his bed with him before succumbing to sleep too. They both woke up at the same time later, repeating the same feeding and cuddling moments, knowing this might tighten their bonds as _brothers_.

Brothers… The significance of this word ringed pleasantly to his mind.

But like everything, their great moments together eventually had to shatter, when the filthy part began.

For an instant, Kuja felt dumb. He should have expected this the moment he realized he was to be the caregiver of an infant. He had even seen it when observing the Humans and the Dwarves on Gaia. Of course, it was the part none of them, whether they were Humans, Dwarves or a soulful Genome, truly enjoyed.

From the beginning of his creation, Kuja had been able to properly get rid of his own wastes, whether they were solid or liquid, without bothering the others. It was something Garland had programmed in all Genomes from the start to avoid a mess of fecal matters and traces of urine scattered around Bran Bal. It was the right thing to do for a proper toilet, and Kuja was especially keen on his own appearance and smell.

But Zidane was different. As an infant, nothing like this was programmed into him. Unlike Kuja and the other Genomes, Zidane could not get rid of his wastes by himself. Kuja realized that this dirty chaos was now a tormenting part of his new responsibilities as Zidane’s caregiver, at least if he wanted to keep his soul. Cleaning a baby’s waste was not meant to be a pleasant task. It was a hassle.

The first time this had happened, Zidane had peed on Kuja while he was being held. Outraged and panicked, the older Genome had screamed and rushed to the clear-crystal lake in the middle of Bran Bal, cleaning himself and the baby who had begun to laugh and smile while being offered a bath. When he was done with the rushed bath, infuriated, Kuja had placed Zidane on a rock, shouting and lecturing him how wrong he had been and how to groom himself and get rid of his wastes. Of course, the baby did not understand anything, but seeing the numerous changes of facial expressions on Kuja had triggered a loud laugh out of him. However, when the baby had sensed the negativity from his caregiver, the laugh and smile were gone to allow uncontrollable cries and tears instead.

How awful and loud Zidane had become. It was annoying and insufferable!

Kuja had understood that Zidane was incapable of even comprehending his older brother’s sudden outburst, but having been drenched of the baby’s own urine had certainly not been the most refreshing incident. Kuja’s frustration was truly a spur of the moment reaction.

But his frustration had soon vanished when Zidane had pushed his arms toward Kuja again, wanting to be held. The silver-haired young man could no longer feel angry over this silly incident, but he was rather scared that another dirty accident was going to happen again. Thankfully, he remembered the most effective method from the Gaian Humans and Dwarves to keep the infants clean by wrapping a piece of cloth around their rear and genital parts. With these clothes, Zidane’s wastes should be absorbed into one spot instead of being spread everywhere or on themselves. Zidane will need to be potty trained as well.

But this disgusting task was not his only new painful obligation.

The diaper method was only the first answer to his never-ending problems. He soon found himself with the issues of the unstoppable screaming and crying, which had begun on the infant’s second day of life.

The first and second times these had happened, having to guess what a crying baby who couldn’t speak needed had been proven a very difficult task for Kuja. He was no parent and even less a very caring individual for one who had never been given love and affection before. Providing this baby the perfect care was more difficult than the Gaians made it appear.

But Gaians lived in society with many more individuals with a soul among them. When they were working together to raise a child, Kuja was completely alone in this chore and he will be for the next years.

With the first two times, Zidane had eventually stopped crying after an entire hour screaming when he had been too tired to continue. He had fallen asleep wherever he was, with Kuja being relieved. It was during Zidane’s slumber after his second screaming session that the young man had decided to listen to an old hologram. He listened to it explaining that when they were not hurt or injured, infants often cried to get their most basic needs filled, whether it was to eat and drink, to get cleaned, to find a place to sleep or to get affection.

It was strange. From what he understood, these long crying sessions should mostly occur when the infants were only few months old. Zidane had been created as a one-year-old. Why was that?

Nevertheless, when the third tantrum came, Kuja attempted to follow these tips. Hugging and brushing Zidane’s cheeks did not work. Cleaning him was out of the way since there was nothing in his diaper and Kuja had just given him a bath. When he gave the feeding bottle, Zidane immediately quieted himself and began to ingurgitate the content.

What a relief…

But soon, when it was time for him to sleep, Zidane began to refuse to sleep anywhere else than within Kuja’s arms. Not even their bed would do unless his older brother lied down with him. Kuja could barely find any time to rest, always stuck with the care he had to provide the small infant. When he managed to get some sleep, they were always cut short by the baby crawling to him and bothering him. If Kuja would not wake up, then Zidane would go through another loud crisis.

All these negative hardships from taking care of Zidane began to have several repercussions on the older Genome, mainly exhausting him to the point he nearly passed out once by the lack of sleep. Found with no way out of this, as a desperate attempt to get help, he requested support from the Moogles, the only sentient beings with a soul on Terra, save for him and the Silver Dragons. As expected, the Moogles fled with Kuja’s presence, never wanting to help any ally of Garland.

Thus, he went to his other fellow Genomes. When Kuja realized that they did not understand his despair, he ran to the Silver Dragon hatchlings caretakers who looked at him clueless. They were tasked to take care of Silver Dragons, but baby Genomes were out of their leagues.

As a last resort, Kuja ran to Garland. However, with the presence of Garland around, Zidane began to cry.

And despite Kuja’s cuddles, Zidane wasn’t close to stop.

The old man saw the signs of extreme fatigue on the older angel. Oddly enough, even with the annoyed sigh he huffed, Garland decided to give it a shot. Kuja was actually shocked to see Garland agreeing to help, but it probably had to do with the fact that Zidane was more precious to him than Kuja ever was. When Garland took hold of the infant in his robotic arms, Zidane stared back at Kuja, his cries momently stopped. However, his eyes were wide with tears and his lips trembled. Ultimately, the infant extended his arms toward Kuja who could only look at him, exasperate but feeling odd seeing the fear and sadness on the younger brother. Soon enough, Zidane cried again, trying to reach out for Kuja from Garland’s arms. Annoyed by the cries and stuck without another choice, Garland merely gave Zidane back to Kuja to never help him in this parenting task, ever again.

… Still, Kuja wanted a good sleep.

Thankfully for him, he had just learned a convenient spell from the Terran books. The Sleep magic existed to defend himself against his enemies, but it should shut the baby from times to times. The idea to cast the spell on an infant seemed strange, but Kuja was getting too desperate for one single full sleep. Right now, Zidane was getting into another of these crying moments. Keeping him in his arms, he casted Sleep on him. To his surprise, the spell worked with success, where Zidane instantly appeased down before finding slumber. Kuja tried poking the baby to see if he’d wake up, but the sleep seemed to be quite deep.

Satisfied, Kuja lied down on his bed with Zidane and slept.

He woke up much later, only to find that Zidane was still asleep. This was strange. The infant would never sleep that long. He decided to toss the thought aside and went on a stroll to Bran Bal with Zidane in his arms, waiting for him to wake up.

After long, long hours, he was still asleep, but something was amiss.

Zidane’s heart pulses were getting slower.

Kuja wasn’t sure if it was the prolonged sleep that was causing this. He tried waking the infant, but Zidane was not opening his eyes nor that he flinched. When he asked one of the Silver Dragon hatchlings caretakers what was happening, one gave him an answer.

“An infant creature needs constant care and feeding. A prolonged sleep will prevent the infant to get its most basic needs. Without proper care and feeding, the infant will get sick and will die.”

When he got his answer, Kuja rushed to his room, trying to feed Zidane with the bottle, but he realized that in his sleeping state, Zidane was not going to grip to the sucking cup. He shook the baby, but he maintained slumber. Panicking, Kuja had no idea how he could wake Zidane up, but the infant needed the feeding. Desperate, Kuja went to Garland and told him what happened. Upon learning of the forced Sleep spell, Garland took Zidane in his arms and then gave Kuja a powerful slap to his head, knocking him down.

The silver-haired Genome woke up in the dark room and begged Garland to let him out. He didn’t understand why he was put in the room. He did nothing wrong, after all. All he wanted was a good night sleep! Eventually, Kuja fell into slumber in the room but was soon awakened when the door of the room finally let him to the outside.

Garland pulled him to the laboratory, where a still slumbering Zidane was put in a special tank with a feeding tube deep into his esophagus. The old man threw him at the tank and forced the Genome to take a look at what he had done with a single Sleep magic. The sight crept Kuja and Garland snarled at him to never cast Sleep on Zidane again. Sleep was a good way to protect himself, but Zidane was only a weak infant on who the Sleep spell had a much bigger impact. A simple Sleep magic will cause Zidane to sleep for few days, which should kill a baby. The least Garland wished was the death of his “perfect” Angel of Death.

And truthfully, Kuja did not want this either.

Well, Kuja learned his lessons. Until the infant will grow up, Kuja will be bound to exhaustion all the time. The prospect angered him.

However, days later, when Zidane woke up, Kuja was sitting beside him. The first thing Zidane did was smiling at him and coveting his warmth. After all he had done, the infant had already forgiven him.

Kuja did not understand.

But being exhausted and tired all the time was better than all the slapping, beating and the dark room. With time, Kuja decided it was wiser to get some sleep whenever Zidane fell asleep. By getting their sleep synchronized, Kuja managed to gain back some of his energy and even his sanity.

…

Over the time, the exhaustion and sleeps were part of Kuja’s daily life. Yet, there were moments when he felt rewarded with everything he had accomplished with his little brother that he would forget about being tired all the time. Whenever Zidane was neither in need of toileting, eating, crying, screaming or sleeping, he would spend time cuddling his big brother. Sometimes, Zidane would be amused by pulling Kuja’s long silver hair with his two tiny hands (how his small fingers gripped to the hair so tightly was a question he no longer longed for an answer). Even if the act hurt a little, Zidane would always smile and laugh at him. It soon became a sort of game which Kuja found oddly pleasing.

Zidane always sought affection from his older brother, whether it was a physical contact or emotional exchange. Over the first month, Kuja learned to read emotional feelings that Zidane exhibited and he always knew what was needed to take a perfect care of him. In return, even though Kuja hardly showed any change in his facial expression or his overall stance, Zidane learned to appreciate his presence. He liked to touch Kuja’s face and sometimes, they would brush their nose together. The move would always appease the infant, and it gave Kuja a strange, warming rush that he was not complaining about. Kuja would return few moves, mainly by petting and stroking Zidane’s cheeks, hair and back. Even right now, they were having a game where they’d curl their tail around the other’s, and Zidane would end by catching the silver one which he knew was not his. It was a comforting game for both.

To add, Zidane liked when Kuja talked. His smiles were always wider whenever Kuja spoke softer words and he’d laugh when the older sibling spoke casually. Zidane just adored hearing Kuja’s voice.

Soon, the day had come for the infant to grow some more. After the second month of awakening into this sad world they were forced to call home, with a leading curiosity to explore his surroundings, Zidane began crawling on all fours. With the infant now capable of shifting from place to place (although slowly), Kuja felt relaxed for once. Garland had told him Zidane should learn things faster than a normal Gaian human infant, and thankfully, his predictions were right. Now, Kuja trusted that his little brother will soon have the capability to walk on his two legs.

That dastardly Garland. He might be a malevolent old man who only had eyes for his mission to save Terra, no matter the price, but to reach his goals, he had given Kuja a gift.

Love.

By creating Zidane as the second Angel of Death, he had offered Kuja the possibility to love and to be loved, something that had not been possible to him before. The reality of being loved was the greatest event Kuja could experience in his short eight years of existence.

Together, as they sat before the lake in the middle of Bran Bal, as the other soulless Genomes passed by them without even giving them any thought, Kuja and Zidane enjoyed the view from their natural seat made of bland blue rocks. Gazing at the lake, only now Kuja realized that the Terran surrounding was not so bad. At least, Zidane adored the view and the water which he loved to play with.

When Kuja petted the infant on the head, Zidane rewarded him with a smile. That warm feeling rushed through Kuja again.

Now, he just realized the true feeling he had been experiencing during these moments for these past weeks.

“Thank you, Zidane. You brought me warmth in this sad home.”

Without ever realizing it, knowing that he was loved, a natural, warm smile crawled onto his lips for the first time in his eight years of life.

Kuja was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s not enough family fluff stories with Kuja and Zidane. This chapter is one of the main reasons I wanted to write this fic.
> 
> Also, I’ve been trying to give baby Zidane a more realistic means for a one-year-old infant, using my own one-year-old niece as a reference (who’s almost three years old now, lol) as I don’t have kids of my own. I know baby Zidane’s actions to try catching Kuja’s nipples with his mouth and to brush his hands and tail on Kuja’s chest during feeding moments are weird, but babies do that (well, without the tail part, of course).


	4. Chapter 3: Feral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another of these fluff-like chapters, with a twist.
> 
> Also thank you all again for Kudos and comments!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

For the entire year since the awakening of Garland’s most precious creature and second Angel of Death, Kuja never regretted turning into the guardian of this tiny child who had become his true little brother.

It’d been so strange, and yet so pleasant, to watch the fruit of his cares growing up to become his own individual, to earn his own core that will make him what he will be. Zidane’s soul still remained uncorrupted, filled with nothing but happiness and joy of life thanks to Kuja’s attention and affection. The boy knew nothing of wars, of the concepts of the planets’ fusion, of the Iifa Tree or what was good and bad. His life was all he had, and that was everything that mattered for now. Even if one was to explain him these concepts, a toddler like him was unable to grasp such complex concepts.

With that pure, innocent soul, if all was going accordingly to Kuja’s plan, Zidane will become an enemy to their creator. They will team up together against the old man Kuja despised so much.

But for now, this small child remained oblivious to the world and the danger that might prey upon him. Kuja had no choice but to let Zidane live and gain experiences of life, with love, friendship, hatred and hardships.

As preprogrammed into his genetic setup, Zidane made good progresses for a child aging at a similar rate of a normal Gaian Human. After a year, he was already physically built like a two-year-old toddler, having now gained the aptitudes of walking and running on his two feet. His hands dexterity was beyond compare for a young toddler when he was able to use complex tools with them, such as a pen, a random hologram or even things that could be used as a weapon, like sharps metallic objects. Of course, Kuja always looked over him whenever Zidane was in the presence of these tools.

The child even discovered a productive use of his furred appendage, sometimes using it as a third arm. Just to play games with his older brother, Zidane would hang up above from a random pole to hide away from everyone’s sight. At first, these hide-and-seek games annoyed the young silver-haired Genome, infuriated when he could not find the child after two or three minutes of intense searches. However, within the first days the boy had started these games, Kuja learned to look up to his tricks and find him hanging above his head somewhere, much to the child's disappointment.

How odd. After nine years of life, Kuja had never truly used his own tail as a productive means. He still could not control his appendage very well, especially when he thought of it more like a bother than a useful part of his body. Instead, his tail seemed to have a mind of its own, always revealing a part of his current feelings when trying to hide them. His tail was partly how Garland was able to read his fear or nervousness whenever they faced each other, despite Kuja’s stoic attitude and appearance.

What Kuja thought of a physical burden had become a playful and productive tool to his little brother.

Perhaps it was time for him to train his own tail too because he seriously lacked experience with it.

However, one of the more amazing feats, much to Kuja’s relief, was Zidane’s acquired aptitude to get rid of his wastes by himself without help. The child would run farther from their town to leave his wastes without having to trouble anyone and especially not his older brother and the old man Garland who Zidane had started to fear over the months.

So many premature abilities assimilated in a short time made everything easier for Kuja, but there was one crucial aptitude which Zidane still lacked.

The toddler could not speak yet.

Kuja could not tell exactly why Zidane was unable to speak at the physical age of two. From what he had been taught from the books depicting details on Humans and Terrans biology, normal children of his age should be able to utter random words or even full but short sentences. Even though Zidane could hardly be called a normal child, from his genetic setup, the boy should be, at least, able to utter some gibberish beyond comprehension.

The only sounds forming from the child’s vocal cords were moans, grunts and cries.

The older sibling was worried by the young child’s lack of speech. However, his worries were aimed toward their master Garland who appeared more frustrated over this. Zidane was supposed to be his perfect Angel of Death, one with a greater mission on a worldwide scale. How could something so important for the future of their home planet not be able to speak?

But speech or not, Kuja put his trust on fate. He knew Zidane’s ability to speak will come with experience, teaching, trials and errors. At the very least, the boy understood most of the words that were spoken to him. To wash over their master’s concerns, Kuja demonstrated that Zidane was able to point at certain objects in the rooms when he mentioned specific words. The boy even understood the adjectives when Zidane caught the smallest container on the table or chose the blue pencil on the desk. These demonstrations offered Garland enough assurance about his “perfect” Angel of Death.

With Zidane comprehending words and sentences despite his lack of speech, Kuja thought it might be the time to teach few magic tricks to his tiny protégé. By now, Kuja had learned a wide variety of spells, including curative magic and most of elemental attacks. While he couldn’t call himself a master to the level of Garland, he thought to be powerful enough to become Zidane’s magic teacher.

“Zidane, you need to pay careful attention to my movements,” Kuja told as Zidane stared at him from his rock where he sat on, curious to the strange hands movements his brother had begun. The elder sibling closed his eyes, drawing his focus on the spell that started to form between his dancing fingers. He whispered an incantation in a language unknown to the younger one. Finally, Kuja hollered a short cry and a flaming ball appeared out of nowhere from his palm, which had shut Zidane with his mouth agape in amazement.

With his younger brother enthralled by the feat, Kuja couldn’t help but sense some pride within, especially when the only other decent sentient being on Terra, Garland, had never been impressed by his skills. Crouching over the impressed Zidane with the fire closer to him, Kuja expressed his warmest smile of pride. “This is the most basic magic spell, Fire. Now, it’s time for you t-”

Kuja’s speech was interrupted when Zidane caught the hand with the Fire spell, the boy still in shock. His action had cancelled the magic Kuja had ignited. With the magic gone, the child giggled before he launched himself elsewhere to explore the surrounding. Irritated by his brother’s lack of attention, Kuja folded his arms with a humph and looked away.

“Foolish brat!” Kuja hissed out. “How are you going to be a worthy Angel of Death if you keep losing your attention?!”

Despite appreciating Zidane’s existence in his life, Kuja had taken the bad habit to call his brother with bratty nicknames thanks to the boy’s quick and overexcited personality, being Kuja’s complete opposite. Thankfully, Zidane never seemed to be upset by these nicknames.

Ignoring his brother’s comments, Zidane trotted around and checked his environment in a quest to find diverse discoveries. Already, the boy grew weary to see the same lifeless atmosphere on Terra. Whenever he’d find things moving, it was either Kuja, his boring Genome kin, the enclosed Silver Dragons and the scary Garland. He had not encountered any Moogle nor monsters so far, their master thinking Zidane was not ready to meet them. A lifeless world was not ideal for a toddler full of energy that needed to be unleashed, after all. Letting a sigh out, Kuja followed him.

After giving this bare land some exploration, with his guardian having a hard time following him behind, a sound caught Zidane’s curiosity. A strange noise sounding like soft snores came from his left and Zidane rushed to the spot. Hidden in a hole on the ground, a creature he had never seen before sounded asleep. The boy couldn’t quite get his hands on what the creature was, looking too unfamiliar from his Genome siblings and different from the Silver Dragons despite their white fur, in both morphology and appearance. This furred being was about as small as himself, but it was chubbier than anything he’d seen before. This one had white fur all around, short arms and short legs, big red nose and purple wings. A red feature looking like a soft pompom hung over its head.

Curious to find out more of this unknown creature, the toddler adopted his careful stance before he slowly approached it. He continued to stare at it from a certain distance, noting its continuous up and down movement from its slow breathing.

Excited from his new discovery, Zidane bounced backward, trying to call his brother with some cries, but Kuja was still far behind. From the distance, Kuja stopped and offered the child a glare before he gave in to some tired panting. Decidedly, he needed to give his own legs some training.

Wanting to play a game with the creature, Zidane turned back to the furred thing and crouched himself on all four. His grin taking over his lips, he put on a frown over his brows like he had to focus on the creature. After running endlessly, Kuja joined his brother, exhausted. When he found the new sleeping being that was Zidane’s newest attention, the young man chuckled, amused by how eager for action the tiny boy appeared. Kuja watched Zidane’s tail brushing wide left and right on the dusty ground. The boy was about to bounce on it at any time now.

But an unfamiliar, aggressive sound surged out.

A growl.

From Zidane.

That low growl, that stance… Kuja had seen something like this before… on the wild beasts and predators on Gaia hunting for preys.

Before Kuja knocked off these odd thoughts, Zidane had already bounced on the furred creature, bringing it away from its sleep. Startled by the brutal awakening, the creature shrieked and screamed, struggling to get away from the aggressive Genome. Zidane wasn’t conceding, and in spite of his snarls and cries, the child attempted to claw and bite the being. Horrified by the scene, Kuja quickly rushed from his spot and tried catching his brother.

But the little creature wasn’t going to abandon without putting up a fight. As a last resort, with a war cry, it kicked Zidane out of the way, propelling the child in the air before Kuja caught him by his tail, saving him from a nasty landing and injury. Hung by the tail, Zidane tried turning around and emitted loud panicking hisses at whomever was taking hold of him from behind. When he spotted his older brother holding him by the tail, his aggressive grunts turned into silence, the little boy questioning Kuja’s intervention in this fight he had been so preoccupied with.

The frown on Kuja was not looking very promising for Zidane, and the little boy suddenly pout at him, feeling guilty.

“Zidane, this is a Moogle,” Kuja told Zidane, drawing his little brother closer to his face. Despite his angry face, Kuja’s voice sounded calm. “They are part of Terra and they are not our enemies. You should not hurt them.”

“Right, kupo!” the Moogle shouted after the brothers as it dusted itself, its anger still perceptible in its pose and voice. Thankfully, it didn’t appear wounded, but it seemed rather shaken by the event. Granting Kuja a glare, it added, “You should teach this kiddo some manners, kupo!”

Manners, right. Garland had programmed Zidane to be an Angel of Death, just like Kuja. However, from the day he had gained sentience, Kuja had never felt the need to attack things without any purpose other than his own convenience. What he had seen in Zidane’s stance was something completely different, the stance of someone wishing death upon another for no apparent reason.

Perhaps Kuja might be imagining things. He did not believe that a toddler with a mental age of a two-year-old could even think of killing things. No one on Terra had ever shoved him the concept of killing and death. There was no future nor death, only life and present. For an uncorrupted soul devoid of evil and experience, innocence was all a child like Zidane should be.

Through his short life, Zidane had been premature on so many things. Did he already know his purpose to bring death upon living things? Was it why he had attacked the Moogle?

What if Kuja was right? What if Zidane truly was programmed and intended to kill mindlessly starting at a very early era of his life? Certainly, right now, he was too young and inexperienced to even wound an innocent Moogle who was able to pack some punch into him, but years might shape the child into a powerful killer beyond compare.

Only time will tell.

* * *

“Kuja!”

“What?”

“Kuja! Kuja!”

“What do you want?”

“Kuja!”

He did not remember when this had started exactly. When Zidane, now aged two and with a morphology of a three-year-old, had finally begun to utter his first word, it had to be his brother’s name. Since then, the toddler screamed his name whenever he had his mouth open. Using different intonation, he’d hollered the name everywhere he stumbled upon, whether it was to gain Kuja’s attention, the Genomes’ and even Garland’s who he seemed to have stopped to fear, but he still maintained his distance with. Nevertheless, it was impossible for anyone to get a certain guess of what Zidane meant when he said the name. Yet, Kuja now began to hate hearing his own name for the fifty-seventh time since his rude awakening this morning.

What a pity, to hate the name he used to cherish as a part of the core that made him a soulful being.

But then, his name was the only word Zidane could say clearly, after all. Better just let him have his fun shouting it endlessly.

However, pure exhaustion led Kuja into ignoring his hyper little brother who appeared to be full of energy on this sad day. Kuja needed his nap right now, and not even a loud child will stop him in his quest for slumber. Turning his back against the bratty child on his bed, Kuja closed his eyes.

Yet, it appeared that Zidane was rather determined to not let his sibling get the sleep he deserved.

The boy bounced on the bed, crying his brother’s name again and his hands gripped to Kuja’s shoulders. Seeing that the elder wasn’t near to flinch, Zidane shook him harder and let few wails out before bringing his annoyance to the next level by giving Kuja some whacks on his head with his tail. Unfortunately, the whacking moves weren’t strong enough to stir the brother away from his bed and to remedy this once and for all, Kuja pushed Zidane away from him with his bulkier silver tail, causing the boy to fall on the floor.

After recovering from the meager fall, Zidane's eyes began to tear up and his lips trembled. As the sniffles and snorts escaped his nose, he bawled for a short moment, outraged by Kuja’s resistance from his attempts at getting his attention.

And then, a noise stirred Kuja’s attention.

Another growl.

No, not again…

Over the months since his first attack on that Moogle, Zidane had been engulfed by random spurs of aggressiveness like he had too much energy contained within. Whenever these events occurred, Zidane would begin to growl at whatever he faced, whether they were monsters or other Moogles. And then, he would try ripping them apart, if not for Kuja’s interventions before Zidane could cause damage. Thankfully, the child would stop and calm himself if Kuja interrupted him. To this day, Kuja could not tell if this was what Garland had wanted on his second angel, to become feral all of a sudden with no warning, but he had been too afraid to ask their master.

Perhaps… was it so the “perfection” would get rid of the “imperfection” when he’d expect it the less…?

The inevitable came for him. Before he could get up from his bed, a powerful kick struck him from behind, causing him a pain to his entire dorsal area. With a sudden cry and moan of pain, Kuja turned quickly, now facing his feral little brother who jumped back on his two feet after the awkward landing after he had kicked him. Back to his attacking and defensive stance, the child maintained his growl before he let a strange hiss out, the hair on his head and the fur on his tail bristling with rage.

Kuja tried to retain his indifference, to show that he had the upper hand over the situation, but his barely opened eyes induced the shock from having been attacked by his own brother, a first since these attacks had started. Zidane was starting to shove his feral instincts onto his own family.

It was so strange to watch this incontrollable side of this seemingly innocent child who would always cling to him.

For few seconds, worries of his own fate as well as Zidane’s resurfaced. If Zidane was to eliminate Kuja one day… what should happen?

No… That won’t happen… Never…

Never!

And suddenly…

“NO!”

It all came instinctively. Kuja screamed a booming “no” at the toddler and at the same time, without even realizing it, he slapped him hard on the head, giving enough pack to launch Zidane rolling to the floor. Even the palm of his hand that was used to slap tickled with a spreading pain like tiny bugs crawling all over the skin. Succumbing to a heavy and slow breath, Kuja coldly glared at the child on the floor, keeping his authority over him and hardening the frown over his expression.

The image of Garland using his hard, metallic hands to slap him flashed.

As the frown on his face subdued, Kuja shook his head.

What was that? How could he even be thinking of the old man right now? Garland had slapped Kuja many times before, sometimes without any clear reason. Each time, Kuja found himself bleeding in the mouth or with a bruise on the face that could last for several days. The pain from the move would always tame Kuja, forcing him into obedience until he forgot about the pain and went into his mischievous behaviors again.

But Zidane… He had attacked him. His intentions were deliberated. Kuja had the right to slap and hurt a bratty kid who had attacked him for no reason other than to gain his attention! Kuja was not guilty of anything, and he refused to show any remorse! He had to teach this boy a lesson! He, too, was a fearless Angel of Death!

With the aggressiveness leaving him and few upcoming sobs coming, Zidane struggled to get back on his feet. His vision blurred by the tears escaping his eyes, he glued his sight at his brother who glared back, the frown on Kuja’s face returning to him. Rubbing his eyes, Zidane was unable to stop the hiccups. That was the first time ever Kuja had hurt him, and while this was painful to Zidane’s cheeks, there was something from within that was even more hurtful than a simple, strong slap on the face. The boy couldn’t tell what it was, but it hurt his mind so much that a long bawl came out of his throat before a loud crying session began.

After letting a humph out like he hadn’t had any care of Zidane’s tantrum, Kuja turned away from his crying brother and went back to sleep, having gotten used to the crying so much over the months he’d sleep through the piercing and annoying yells. He was going to get his nap, and that was final.

Yet, something came to crawl between his arms as he shut his lids. Dammit, how he longed to be left alone for once… But when he opened his eyes, he realized it was Zidane who came to snuggle discreetly to him as if he was seeking comfort and warmth, right from his tormentor. His crying had stopped now, but the sniffles and warm tears persisted. Rubbing his reddened cheeks on his brother’s comforting cloth over the chest, he soaked his warm tears on the fabric. Trying to stretch his tiny arms as wide as possible to embrace Kuja into a full hug, the boy soon gave up and let his tail roll around his brother’s waist instead. When Zidane retracted his arms to his chest, he fell asleep.

Zidane might not be able to speak other words than Kuja’s name, but the older brother knew it was the child’s way to tell him he was sorry.

With a new peace of mind restored, Kuja smiled and returned the affection with a soft stroke on the toddler’s hair before he slumbered into the nap he sought for.

* * *

Unfortunately, Zidane’s feral shenanigans on Kuja continued over the next weeks. Thankfully, Kuja never remained impassive with each time. Whenever Zidane started entering into his attacking stance and faced him, Kuja immediately shouted “no” at him. Knowing that a painful strike might come if he ever was to hurt his caregiver and the one who raised him, Zidane was conditioned to refrain from attacking him. And besides, he hated when Kuja was furious or when he shouted the “no” word which he soon came to pick as his second word.

With all these trainings and gained experiences, Zidane had learned to see Kuja not only as a precious older brother, but as an authority figure who he should hold full respect for. Thanks to this, Zidane had finally stopped attacking the one he considered his only true sibling.

Still, as odd as it seemed, they were given an innate satisfaction over watching things suffer. Kuja did not try to stop Zidane from attacking anything other than the rarer Moogles or the scarcer and roaming Silver Dragons. Instead, whenever they’d wander in their hometown Bran Bal, Zidane would often feel the urge to bite and claw into a random Genome at each part of their bodies, whether it was their tails or another limb, before kicking them to the ground. Realizing that the other Genome never fought back unlike Kuja, the toddler sensed bliss and fun into hurting a harmless fellow. Sometimes, even Kuja took part of this little game of hurt and heal wherein he tested his newly learned magic spells before he healed them with a Curaga spell. This never-ending cycle of fun was so convenient as the soulless Genomes would simply get hurt and then healed back as if nothing happened. They would get back on their feet and continue their boring, eternal lives as Garland’s servants.

At first, Kuja thought that with an endless supply of passive subjects wandering in this sad town, why not taking advantage of their numbers? Garland shouldn’t care about losing a Genome or two, seeing he could just replace them with another, if it ever came to that.

Yet, Kuja thought wrong. When Garland discovered their mischiefs, he ordered them to never kill the Genomes. According to him, each Genome vessels were to bear some specific souls when Terra will be revived, which Kuja believed it to be the truth. As a fruit of the ancient Terran civilization himself, Garland had been programmed to never lie about facts he was certain about. Out of curiosity, this prompted Kuja to wonder what kind of souls Garland had shoved into him and Zidane, but the old man was still programmed to not answer a question when he refused to, like this time.

Exhibiting a shrug and a mocking smirk, Kuja said, “I guess I was someone evil and important in my past life. I suppose you gave Zidane the soul of a bratty hero.”

Of course, Garland had not been made capable of humor. Without even confirming the comment, he warned them that if he found out they were doing it again, Kuja knew of the consequences. But then, Kuja was needed to take care of his perfect Genome, so Garland certainly was not ready to take his soul away now. That did not deter them from continuing their games against the Genomes, one of their main causes of their slavery to Garland. To see them suffer and struggle their wraths drove the angels to pure satisfaction.

But even one created to bring death had fears.

As Zidane’s strength rose and his awareness grew stronger, what will the future hold for Kuja? The silver-haired Genome knew from the start that Zidane was meant to replace him one day. While this fateful day will only come much later in many years, what should exactly determine this day? Garland had produced Zidane’s core as wild and energetic just so he could kill as easily as he could breathe in his later life. When Zidane will be older, will he kill Kuja too?

Perhaps this was Garland’s intention, to dispose of the failed angel prototype without ever staining his own metallic hands. His perfect Angel of Death will proceed with the task himself. This will be the moment Garland will win against Kuja’s efforts to keep up with his soul and life, his miserable life as a puppet of the man he hated.

No, Kuja won’t allow this! Zidane won’t be like that! Zidane had a soul too, and nothing will change that fact. Having a soul meant having a will, and Zidane will forge a will on his own. And with enough care, Zidane will follow exactly as Kuja will dictate.

Yes, they will fight Garland together.

* * *

During his life, Zidane had interacted with Master Garland on rare occasions. Most of the times they met, Garland came to have a speech with Kuja of subjects that were beyond the child’s understanding. Once upon a time, when Zidane had acquired awareness of his existence, he had feared the old man to the point he’d hide behind Kuja with each meeting, even if their meeting had no evil intention. For some time, Kuja had questioned the reason for Zidane’s behavior, and when he had asked the child, the boy had simply pointed at Garland and shivered. Of course, that did not give the answer he sought for, but Kuja had decided to dismiss it as their master’s fearsome appearance. To reassure him, Kuja had told that their master should not be attacked. As long as Zidane left him alone, Garland will not hurt him. The child had learned to believe this.

It was only months later that Zidane had stopped fearing him like he was used to his existence and presence whenever the old man was nearby.

Sometimes, Garland spoke of Zidane’s purpose as an Angel of Death and other things, which Zidane could not grasp the concepts yet. However, the old man did this intentionally so the child will get used with the terms and eventually, he’ll understand his life. For now, everything about the Iifa Tree, the Mist, the planet Gaia or the planets’ fusion were of no importance to him. Everything Garland told him bored him, and the moment he stopped his speech, Zidane would return to play and explore. Soon, he brought these games to the next level by trying to fight random monsters in the vast empty lands of Terra.

Zidane’s feral side was brought back by Garland as he ordered Kuja to teach the boy how to control his wild urges. The little boy should not hurt everything that moved. Killing monsters were acceptable, but he got to learn how to choose which to kill and which to allow to live. If his urges were left alone, Zidane could kill the other Genomes and even run to Garland himself at any time. After all, a mindless killer on the loose on Gaia will surely get killed fast too. Gaians weren’t like the defenseless, soulless Genomes.

However, one day, the dreadful moment Kuja secretly yearned for occurred, not long before Zidane should reach his fourth year of life.

Zidane hadn’t merely hurt a Genome. He had killed her.

The mess he left after killing her was not a body bathing in blood. It was a chaotic clutter of flesh and open wounds with blood splatters on the ground. What made up of her Genome appearance was unrecognizable after the attack. This had happened while Kuja had been busy cleaning up his home while Zidane played outside alone, having nothing else to do. When Kuja discovered the scene with a bloodied Zidane bouncing on the dead Genome, his first thought before even having Garland in mind was that he was glad to have not been the one to become the distorted carcass.

Unfortunately, Garland was not far from the scene either. Seeing that both angels were present, with an oddly calm Zidane staring at him with wide, puppy eyes and with a nervous, frozen Kuja, the android wished he could put the blame on the elder brother. However, with how spotted clean Kuja’s whole attire was while Zidane soaked in the victim’s blood, he knew he had to scold them both. Yet, Zidane was still a toddler, one unable to make clear decisions without an older caregiver to monitor him.

So, that meant Kuja had not been monitoring Zidane carefully enough.

Yes, that must have been it. Kuja was to blame for this vicious attack. How could a three-year-old even be aware of what he was committing into?

The powerful slap did not wait. Kuja was struck by it fast enough that he had no time to dodge or do anything else. From where he stood, Zidane stared at the scene, his eyes narrowing with a feeling he had never truly thrived with before which caused him to be confused and yet afraid. He was worried too, worried of seeing the mean old man granting Kuja more violent slaps and punches with blood now covering his brother’s face.

Zidane sensed panic.

The boy could not think straight as the tears blurred his vision and bawls prompted his lips to tremble in panic. Their master was causing so much pain to Kuja. He couldn’t just stand here and watch the scene. He had to do something to stop the mean old man from hurting Kuja.

Taking a step backward, Zidane launched himself from his spot and landed straight on the android, readying a kick on his head that was powerful enough for Garland to lose his grip over Kuja. With all these snarls and growls, the boy began to claw his master face with his pointed nails, aiming to pierce through it. Garland screamed, trying to get this tiny toddler out of his skull, but unable to see anything as Zidane’s body covered his eyes, his wide, heavy hands could never get a good grip on the child.

Having crawled away from the scene in distress, Kuja found refuge meters away, shaking the blood out of his mouth and nose before he casted Cure on himself to heal his face. All the commotion sounds confused him, but when he was recovered enough to watch the fighting scene, his mouth went agape. It was an event worthy of his oddest dreams.

A feral Zidane attacking Master Garland.

From the way the boy led the fight, Zidane was positively seeking to kill Garland with each strike he inflicted, exhibiting a newly acquired hatred for their master. A side of Kuja was struck by pure delight over their now shared hatred, but another side couldn’t just believe what a tiny being was capable of. He had truly underestimated his brother.

The battle raged on, with Zidane now struggling to reach for the softest part of Garland’s head which appeared to be the eyes. Before he was able to claw them, the old man managed to catch the boy by the tail. Without thinking, Garland threw him with a quick swing toward the ground, tossing him toward Kuja’s direction. Zidane landed straight to the ground on his left arm with a blaring scream, where Kuja hurried and joined him. However, a leg was giving up to his body weight, having earned a sprain to the ankle which slowed him.

Despite his weakened arm from the violent landing, Zidane was able to get back on all four. Still shaken by the strength Garland had used to toss him out, the boy slowly crawled to his slumping brother close by, climbing up to his chest before whining his tears out and hugging the other. Noticing the blood that was Zidane’s own from the injuries he sustained from their master, Kuja began to cast more Cure to soothe his wounds before he gave him few soft strokes. Each fiber of their muscles ached from the battle, but at least they were going to be fine.

“Kuja, I have warned you,” Garland commented, suddenly all calm, but he had adopted his strict tone to project his authority over his servants. “You can use the Genomes as target dummies, but I do not want them killed. You have failed yet again by letting Zidane kill your own kind. I need him to be able to control himself and not kill anyone mindlessly. Do you realize what should happen if Zidane is left on Gaia? Folks will defend themselves against him and they will kill him.”

Covering his child brother between his arms and tail as if to protect him from the old man, Kuja presented his master a longing, furious glare. He protested, “Zidane is still an infant. Whatever you say, you cannot tame an infant.”

Garland objected, “Zidane is three years old, meaning he is a child, not an infant.”

A strange, twisted smile shaped onto Kuja’s face. “He cannot speak more than two words and he is reaching his fourth year soon.”

This time, Garland burst in anger. “Enough! Do not question the facts! I do not want a feral child! Zidane needs to be able to tame his instincts to carry on with his purpose!”

“Your purpose.”

Taken aback by Kuja’s insolence, Garland was ready to give him another violent slap on the face. Seeing that the silver-haired servant was not going to walk away any time soon, he raised a hand, preparing the dreaded slap. Without even flinching, Kuja’s stare was glued to his master, not even making any effort to avoid the upcoming strike. He even offered him a teasing smile which seemed to infuriate the old man.

Still providing his little brother continuous soft strokes, Kuja was ready.

… The slap never came.

Instead, Garland dropped his hand and turned around, leaving the brothers in their fates. It no longer was anyone’s concern but theirs. “Clean this area and dispose of this Genome’s body!” he ordered the other Genomes around to do his bidding, and they promptly obeyed. Without even drawing his attention back at the angels, he raised his voice and said, “Kuja, if you want to let Zidane kill things, go to Gaia. Teach him to be discreet of his actions. He cannot be seen killing everything like this.”

* * *

Garland requested that Zidane did not meet the Gaian civilizations yet, as long as he could not fully tame his feral instincts. According to their master, the boy was deemed not ready to deal with the more sentient races, and especially not with the unpredictable Humans.

Kuja had never really enjoyed experiencing the wildlife on Gaia, but Zidane seemed to have fun exploring this new universe. Gaia was so different from Terra on unimaginable levels with this lively world bathing in a soothing blue sky filled with lives and souls everywhere, unlike the borefest that was Terra. With the careful monitoring from Kuja, Zidane would jump everywhere on this land that held so many varieties of environments, whether it was a bare land that still hosted lives or a patch of warming, green woods, where many soulful creatures had made their home. Watching many lives and vegetation in one place amazed the boy so much he began to chase after everything that moved. At first, he had been surprised by the animals’ reactions as they would try to escape him unlike the Genomes, but then, he understood that living things were much different on Gaia. Of course, he had killed few things already, mainly insects and small animals that were proven harmless to him. The big ones were either too aggressive or too strong for him, and Zidane learned about this fast when he tried taking on a canine animal called Fang. Thankfully, Kuja was always present to heal him with his Cure magic. Most of the preys that were unfortunate enough to fall under Zidane or Kuja’s attacks provided decent food to sustain them. Thanks to Kuja’s Fire magic, they were able to make their meats tastier and easier to chew with some cooking. After more explorations, Kuja taught Zidane about fruits scattered in the woods that he could eat, and this had been the child’s first experience into tasting sweet things, which he adored.

If Zidane could speak the words, he’d beg Kuja to stay on Gaia forever, now wanting to forget about the awful synthetic food on Terra.

The part Kuja especially hated when wandering on Gaia was the lack of a proper home and a roof. He did not like his meager, tiny home in Bran Bal either, but at least, there were no tiny creatures trying to crawl or bite him during his sleep at home. Gaia’s wildlife was a different story where he found himself exposed to the irritating animals, insects and the natural weather like rain. Even the tents a nicer Moogle offered them were not enough to provide complete shelter from the tiniest bugs. However, Zidane loved to sneak out of their tent at night to explore the nightlife of the wild, where even more innocent creatures roamed to avoid the bigger predators that wandered during day time.

Over the weeks, like Garland had requested, Kuja successfully taught Zidane not to attack everything and that they should only hurt and kill when it was convenient. And to Kuja’s surprise, Zidane was able to make use of a better stealth like the big predators. He was now capable of sneaking into an attack on things to minimalize injuries. It should make everything easier for them to survive this harsher, but more fun world.

By the time Zidane reached four, he’d been more attentively following his brother’s advices and acquiring more fighting experiences to the point Kuja was now confident Zidane will be able to take on bigger monsters. The child even stopped going after the small defenseless creatures. Now, instead of escaping when facing predators and big fearless animals, the brothers fought them together. Thanks to their constant stroll on Gaia, Kuja’s spiritual powers and Zidane’s rising raw strength and speed were beyond most of Gaians’ reach. The big and strong monsters were no match for them.

Yet, the siblings were not invincible. There were few wild creatures that were too strong for them, even if they worked in team. Kuja counted two main Gaian species that were beyond their level; the Grand Dragons and the adorable, yet very savage Yans which Kuja made the wrong assumption from their cute appearances that they were innocent creatures. It was near at the cost of their own lives that they learned of their strength, but it was thanks to Kuja’s curative magic that they were able to escape their premature death from them.

If only Zidane had the potential for magic… Kuja eventually gave up trying to teach him spells, but Garland had told him once his second angel should be more adept at physical strength and speed. Kuja had always wondered why Zidane was created as such. After all, magic had a more devastating impact when it came into eliminating their foes… or destroy a world.

Whenever they returned to Terra with the Invincible, Zidane was disappointed. He still didn’t like Terra, he hated its food and they were to meet with the mean old man all the time there. After noting the progresses on each angel, Garland seemed quite pleased and even started to mention that he might have been wrong about Kuja being a failed prototype. But even with the given praises, the hatred Kuja had for him will not subdue. However, their master resented Kuja for the bothering fact that Zidane could only speak three words, which was hardly a progress from the two he knew a year before.

Kuja. No. Yes.

Right, but after four years raising him and watching him grow, only Kuja seemed to understand whatever Zidane meant using different intonations and emotional tones when he said these words. The brothers’ relation was truly beyond Garland’s expectation. Even if Kuja hardly exhibited his own emotions unlike Zidane, Garland could see the deep care they exchanged for each other, like a true parent and a child.

But in these days, Kuja feared this relation will not last.

Even if Kuja had efficiently taught Zidane to control his urges, there were times on Gaia when he deliberately left their foes to the child alone, letting him do the dirty job of fighting monsters. Whenever Kuja did this, Zidane found bigger enjoyment to watch things suffer his wrath.

When Kuja did not intervene in battles, Zidane became a wild, mindless Angel of Death.

His fighting stance projected a strange aura, the aura of a soul who enjoyed the death of others. His calculating cold eyes reflected the madness with only one wish in sight, and that was the defeat of his foes. Over the next months, using his aptitude of stealth and speed, not only he succeeded into killing a ferocious Grand Dragon by himself without being injured, but also a pair of Yans, where he stood wounded but victorious. Even Kuja had never achieved this feat in his twelve years of existence.

If everything went according to Garland’s plan, even if the boy cared and loved his older brother like no one else…

Kuja feared for his life.

One of the reasons Garland had in mind when he had crafted his second Angel of Death was to dispose of his first prototype in a way or another. With the fast progresses Zidane made in only four years, Kuja’s last day of life could be happening any time, sooner or later. If this ever came too soon, Kuja won’t have any time to formulate a plan to get rid of Garland.

Kuja knew he had the better potential to become an almighty sorcerer who should be powerful enough to take on Garland one day, but Zidane's existence might not allow him to live long enough to see that day.

Zidane’s strength and presence will become a nuisance to his plans. If the boy’s fury will continue to build up into intense powers with further experiences, the instincts to kill Kuja for his own pleasure might come to surface soon.

But Kuja will not allow this. He was older, more powerful for now and he definitely possessed the brain to plan things. Even with such premature strength, Zidane was no match for Kuja.

He had to get rid of Zidane and fast! It was either Kuja or the bratty little brother. The young man could go with the simplest plan of disposing him with a little death. This will be easy since Kuja was the only one allowed to get close to Zidane as the boy would deliberately overpower everyone else.

But killing Zidane will certainly bring wrath over his master. Garland will be enraged, perhaps so much he will wish to dispose of Kuja. If this was to happen, Kuja could escape on Gaia and hide. He could attempt living among the Humans and pass as their kind…

Yes, this might work. He’ll get to live, he’ll be saved and Garland will not find him!

This was right. They were returning to Gaia today for another stroll. When the night will darken the planet their master sought to destroy, Kuja will destroy Garland’s perfection. Tonight, he will not prey on a monster.

He will prey on a brother.

As with each day on Gaia, Zidane was excited to find new creatures to discover and taste. It was a nice experience to devour each new prey they got to kill. It not only made them stronger, but they got to taste many new delicious meats. Gaia was the playground every small children wished for, and he could not understand his master’s desire to see this world destroyed.

When the night came, Zidane was overtaken by fatigue, having beaten a young Griffin to death which had been powerful enough to sustain damage and exhaust the boy. In short minutes, during Kuja’s sleep, Zidane fell into complete slumber and crawled himself into his brother’s arms.

But Kuja was not sleeping.

Kuja had carefully sneaked himself away from his brother, trying to leave him into his peaceful slumber. Zidane gently stirred as Kuja moved, but he quickly went back to sleep. Thankfully, Zidane’s sleeps were always deep and the boy was hard to wake, perhaps a talent Kuja yearned for thanks to his own lack of rest. There was no need to cast a Sleep magic on him. He won’t wake up.

If he will ever…

Calmly, Kuja took out a knife he had borrowed from his home, holding it within his slender fingers. The blade reflected the fear and madness from his eyes, his sight now set on the sleeping brat unaware of his guardian’s intention. The little child left some soft snores before making few moans out of his mouth, his tail swaying up and down on the ground like he was having a nice dream.

His innocent-looking pose and noises suddenly distracted him. Kuja shook his head, struggling to ignore this. Slowly, he moved the knife over Zidane’s body, the weapon firm between his two hands. To make sure the task will be completed, he shut his eyes.

He waited.

And waited.

His hands shivered.

… No, he had to get grip of himself. He tightened, now ready for his task. The knife ready over the body, he waited.

And waited.

And waited…

“Ku… ja…”

Wait, that voice… Zidane…

“… ja…”

Had Zidane wakened up already? No, that could not be! Kuja opened his eyes and…

No, Zidane had his eyes shut. However, a small smile took place over his lips.

He waited.

And waited.

And then…

“N-No…” Kuja took a step back, his entire body shaking in horror and his knife dropped to the ground. He had been so close to kill Zidane, the only being who had ever given him love.

Love, right… Was Zidane actually having some kind of happy dream? What was he even dreaming about? He said his brother’s name during his sleep, the only word with more than one syllable he could utter. There was a clear reason why this was his first word, and that was because Zidane loved Kuja.

This young, ignorant brat needed his caregiver, his older brother, to see the light in this miserable world where they were slave to their creator together. Kuja had a duty as the older sibling. It was to take care of Zidane, to make sure he grew up happy.

No, no, no! He will not commit into this killing! He was an Angel of Death, but bringing death to family was not right. This was unethical, immoral and wicked to kill such a young child that loved him!

He will need another plan, one that will require no death.

… Yes, this might be it.

He remembered an old detail that Garland had taught him about the Invincible, a feature that his master forbade to use unless needed. There was a room in the airship equipped with special teleporters that will transport anything, whether they were living things or simple objects, to a random point on Gaia, if programmed with certain inputs. Kuja was taught these programs once and he had yet to forget them. Now, only if he could make use of this very convenient feature to save himself…

Later during another day, when they travelled back to Terra together to get their progress check by Garland, the old man had been too busy to meet with them. This was another rather convenience for Kuja, and it was time to put his plan into motion. Staying in the Invincible, Zidane rushed in the airship, visiting random rooms to hide away from Kuja as a part of his hide-and-seek game. However, knowing Zidane by heart, Kuja always knew where to find him. As the elder brother discovered him in the teleporter room which Zidane had been warned several times to never play with the operation control stand, Kuja told him that he was too tired to play. Disappointed, Zidane stood by Kuja’s side, holding him by his tail and trying to bother him.

When the boy found out Kuja was walking to the control stand which Garland had forbidden to use, he gasped with the perplexity obvious in his eyes. “Kuja?” Zidane asked, the pout and the anxious stare put up on his face.

Right, by leaving Zidane on one of the teleporting pods, Kuja will be able to teleport his brother to a random point to Gaia, where he will be lost, where he will not be able to kill anyone else but Gaians. Kuja will be safe. Garland will never find him. Zidane will be lost forever. Kuja knew the unknown did not scare Zidane and he was confident that the child will overcome all obstacles and live on his own. He had observed him handling with his life on Gaia on surviving in the wildlife, and Zidane will certainly survive.

And if he was lucky, Zidane will find a new sentient being that will take him in and raise him into a free creature.

Zidane will survive, and Kuja will survive too. And perhaps, the most of all, Zidane will be freed from Garland.

Yet… What if… What if Kuja left with Zidane on Gaia too? Freedom sure sounded pleasant and refreshing. They could live their lives together in the unknown, where they will develop into something else than Garland’s Angels of Death. No one to monitor them. No one to check on their progress. No war to have in mind. Garland will not be able to track them. They will be simple Humans with a tail, living among Gaia’s civilization. This will be his dreamed life, a life of freedom.

Oh, but…

To escape using the teleportation pods, someone had to take control of the control stand…

… And Zidane might still kill him on Gaia if they escaped together, even without Garland’s influence. It could have been programmed in his core…

And if they’d escape together, Garland might still find them. And when it will happen, the dastardly old man will take his soul away.

No, he got to continue his work for Garland. He still needed the Invincible for his plans to rule both worlds.

But he’ll be alone again. Yet, it was better than losing his soul or dying.

Shaking his head to toss these thoughts aside, Kuja focused back to the present. Making sure Zidane was staring at him, the older brother gave a long look at the teleportation pods. Curious, the little boy turned his sight to the pods too, trying to figure out what had caught his guardian’s attention. There seemed to be nothing of interest though, except that he remembered Garland’s warning about these teleporters.

“Zidane,” Kuja hushed to his brother as he crouched to his level, making himself reassuring. “You’ll go on Gaia, and then, you’ll live there. I believe you are a survivor.”

Striving to remain attentive, Zidane kept his calm. He looked at the teleporters again and then he turned back at Kuja who was kindly beaming at him. After swallowing, Zidane drew his focus on the teleporters once more and pointed at them. “Kuja…?” the boy asked, his curiosity turning into doubts.

This was it. It was now or never. Kuja’s plan will go smooth. When the teleporter will transport Zidane to the unknown of Gaia, Kuja will be alone to continue his long-term projects. Zidane will be safe from Garland and they will never find him. When Garland will request the child’s whereabouts, Kuja’s answer will be simple.

_O Master Garland. I bear bad news. Zidane has played with one of the teleporters in the Invincible and he had vanished. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find him. He can be anywhere on Gaia, but the chances to find him again are slim. I cannot blame him or myself, it was an accident!_

Yes, his master will be furious and he will be scolded for this. However, he was ready for this inevitable punishment and most of all, he will live. Even without Zidane’s presence, Garland needed at least one Angel of Death for his purpose.

“You understood what I just told you, right?” Kuja spoke slowly and checked on the boy’s expression to spot confusion and uncertainty. He wanted to make sure Zidane understood him and was not lost.

Unfortunately, he was lost, Kuja could tell as much.

“Y… Yes…?” Zidane managed to say in his puzzled mumbling.

Suddenly, it hurt in his heart.

He shook his head again.

Whether Zidane actually understood the plan or not should not deter him from proceeding with his plan. He must not waste time. Kuja gently dragged his brother to the teleporters and let him stand on one of the pods. “Great, Zidane. Stay here,” Kuja hushed to him while giving him a brush to the cheek with his fingers, appeasing the child. Zidane nodded, yet he was uncertain of what will occur soon.

When Kuja walked back to the control stand, he gave another gaze at the teleporters to make sure his brother stayed on the pod where he had placed him. Thankfully, Zidane was still there, tranquil but his wide, puppy eyes were glued to his caregiver.

This was it. It was now or never.

Kuja’s smile withered.

“Zidane… Good b-"

“KUJA?!”

That deep, hoarse voice from behind, could it be…? Only one individual possessed that voice on Terra, and when Kuja realized what was happening, his shaking hands immediately left the controls. He turned around to find the one he had been dreading to see since the motion of his plan.

Garland should not have come here that early…

When Kuja had heard Garland calling him, the voice had sounded so physically distant behind. However, when the young man turned around, his master appeared too close to him as if the dreadful old man had teleported himself just behind. After all, with such powers from millenniums of existence, Garland was capable of teleportation without the use of technology.

Before Kuja gasped at him, he was suddenly lifted above the floor when a wide, heavy metallic hand gripped to his face.

“Kuja!!!” He could hear the faint call of his name from someone else than his tormentor.

Rushed by panic, Kuja began to struggle against the painful strength of his master, his body quivering and his limbs prancing to all directions in fright. He was unable to use his magic to free himself as the continuous strikes from Garland cancelled his spells. His vision was blurred by the excruciating pain he was being afflicted and he could not see the intensifying fury with a growing hatred and disappointment on the old man’s face.

Frozen on his pod, Zidane began to whine and bawl from witnessing the torture inflicted to his dear guardian. “No! Kuja!!!” the boy screamed again, but Kuja no longer heard him.

“Kuja! What were you planning?!” Garland snarled, not even expecting an answer from the servant he had under the firm grip of his pressing dark fingers. After getting no reply, Garland released Kuja, letting him drop to the floor like a ragdoll. Blood all over his lips and face as he crawled himself away on the cold ground, Kuja moaned of pain with bloodied coughs escaping his throat.

Unable to contain himself and fight his tears, Zidane dashed to his injured brother, crying his name over and over. Coveting his warmth, he gripped to Kuja’s chest, hugging him and afraid to lose him.

From the instincts, despite the pain, Kuja’s one hand crawled itself to hold onto Zidane’s shaking back. His other hand holding to his bloodied mouth, he tried casting a Cure spell. “G-Garl… land…” Kuja stuttered, unable to speak clearly.

“Were you planning to drop Zidane to the unknown Gaia?!” the android hissed, never leaving the Genome brothers from his cold eyes. “Do you even realize he will be lost, or worse, killed, if you did?! Do you know all that, Kuja?!”

Losing his focus and attempting to heal himself without success, Kuja was not ready to offer an answer. Even saying “yes” was, right now, the heaviest struggle of all along this chaos between his crying brother glued to him and the questions uttered by Garland.

Furious by the lack of response and by Kuja’s absence of cooperation, a wild gust coming from Garland separated the brothers from each other, both screeching from being launched in the air before landing hard to the ground. Satisfied by the distance between the angels, the old man rose his palm and casted a powerful Flare magic on Kuja. The bleeding silver-haired angel was propelled by the blast before he rolled on the ground, motionless.

Kuja was no longer bothering to stand back.

“Answer me!!!” Garland screamed, but truth be told, he was not expecting any answer from the young man anymore. The sole reason for all his doings were to lash his anger onto his first prototype for his absolute insolence, and Kuja knew this. It was futile to give his master an answer. That will only offer him a slight satisfaction that Garland did not deserve.

Trying to think of something more pleasant to forget about his intense pain, the older angel kept his eyes shut. The relief came back to him when he felt another touch, a gentle one this time, over his body. He’d recognize that gentle, yet nervous, trembling body of Zidane trying to get hold of him with his tiny arms and tail. “Kuja!” the boy cried again before brushing his hands on Kuja’s cheeks, not concerned by the staining blood on his attire.

“You worthless, defective Genome!” Garland shouted like a furious, grounding parent. “I should have claimed your soul long ago! You are no longer fit to mentor Zidane! I will take care of this myself now! Kuja, you will come with me to Pandemonium now!”

Not even thinking for a second that his action could harm his precious creature, Garland caught Zidane by his tail before tossing him away from Kuja, launching the boy to the floor in pain. Zidane gave away a shriek as he landed on the ground. With Zidane out of the way from Kuja’s reach, Garland pulled Kuja by his collar, forcing him to hold to a thin thread of his cloth. Submerged by the pain and prisoner from his master’s grip, Kuja lost consciousness.

Witnessing his brother’s torture brought Zidane’s courage and strength to the surface. He was not going to let the mean old man escape with a helpless Kuja! With cries and tears, the boy never stopped calling his brother’s name and he rushed to him. Noticing the little brat approaching, Garland swept him away with a mere swing of his free hand, sending Zidane to the floor again.

With Kuja under his arm, Garland carried with his stroll to Pandemonium, wherever he ignored all the screams of despair and the bites from a feral Zidane. With each strike on the old man, Garland threw the kid away like an annoying mosquito. Each bite was as hurtful as an itchy skin, which Garland could completely tolerate.

One of Zidane’s shrieks managed to stir Kuja away from his painful slumber. Realizing that Garland was firmly restraining him under an arm, the silver-haired Genome struggled to break free from his excruciating tormentor. “M-Master Garland!!!” Kuja hollered out of panic, fighting to squeeze himself out. “What are you scheming against me?! Let me go!!!”

Despite the struggling creature under his arms that was trying to cast several harmful magic on him, Garland appeared awfully cool and not even hurt by the magical attacks or desperate scratches. Unfortunately for the young Genome, the master held absolute control over him. His deep voice resounding in Pandemonium, he revealed, “You are no longer any use to us anymore. It is futile to let you roam freely like this. You have no right to keep the very thing giving you the freedom of thoughts, your soul.”

That was it, the prospect of living his biggest fear of becoming a soulless vessel, of being nothing but a puppet whose eternal life’s purpose was to follow a master. He will lose his emotions, his core, his individuality. His life will be a fleeting memory, vanished before he was able to leave his mark in this world. He will be forgotten, lost, a worthless former prototype. “No!!!” Kuja screamed in fear, refusing to befall on his siblings’ mindless level. “This is my body, my core, my soul! I’m not yours to fit into your damn plan! Y-You can’t… can’t…”

The young man’s horror spread onto him as he felt the waving magic casted upon him, a Sleep spell Garland would use on him whenever he thought Kuja rebelled too much against him. His voice leaving him, his lids heavy, he wrestled to keep his eyes open and he attempted one last time to call for help.

Yet, no one could come to him on Terra. There was no other soul.

Unless…

His eyes shut to the image of a crying Zidane staring at him in despair.

_Who… Who’s Zidane going to rely on, now…?_

…

With the Sleep spell, Garland forced the Genome into slumber, hoping to never hear the voice of this defect. If Kuja was truly a powerful angel, he should have easily avoided his spell.

After giving Zidane another slap to throw him away from his path, Garland pushed the unconscious Kuja over a pod platform, which soon enclosed him inside a transparent tank of glass. The old man walked to the control stand, pressing few buttons and waited for the process to begin, the final process to discard the soul from its vessel.

“Kuja!!!” Zidane cried and ran to the tank where Kuja had been imprisoned. Refusing to give up on his condemned brother, the child kicked and slammed on the glass, fighting to break through it to free Kuja. Even though the tank showed no sign of being broken and despite the appearing bruises and bloodied wounds on his body from the violent slams, the boy did not stop.

What stopped him from slamming into the glass was when he saw these weird cables with pointy spikes on their tip appearing from above and piercing all of Kuja’s limbs like a perfect automation. Zidane froze, all in silence but a short sniffle broke his trembling lips. “K-Kuja?” he called again, expecting Kuja to answer.

Of course, Kuja did not, and Zidane whined louder, screaming his brother’s name over and over while struggling to break into the tank.

Ignoring the cries from his now sole angel, Garland pressed another button from his controls. “Zidane, you cannot destroy the tank. It is made of tempered, indestructible glass.”

Lost in thoughts from whatever his master had told him, Zidane glared at him for a second before he returned his focus on Kuja who was still showing no sign of life. All his limbs down like heavy rocks, his whole body slumped down. Sulking, Zidane rubbed his eyes before he put his hands on the tank, giving a grieving gaze at his brother.

“Kuja…” Zidane collapsed at the bottom of the tank, whining and wailing, now close to resign on ever being able to contact with his guardian. He was hardly moving from his spot until he noticed the water slowly filling the tank at the risk of drowning Kuja to his death. Hit by panic again, Zidane began to scream again. “Kuja! No! Kuja! Kuja!!”

Now annoyed by the incessant high-pitched screams, Garland yelled after the child. “Will you shut up?! Kuja is not coming back! He will-”

Garland was never able to finish his sentence.

Rather, a strange spectacle began to play itself, interrupting in his speech. When Garland had expected more silly bawls and cries, he heard a low growl from Zidane instead. And yet…

Wait… the child had now become the very distraction that made him forget about everything else around.

Yes, the sight of Zidane’s body giving away a faint glow which soon surrounded him into a pale, bright halo became a marvel to Garland’s wide orbits. As the child’s eyes shifted into a bloodied crimson hue and parts of his body sprouted patches of long pink fur, the fear and rage in his eyes grew wilder and more intense.

When Garland realized what was happening, he froze.

Could it be…?

Taking few steps back with a mixture of horror and… bliss, the old man said, “Impossible… How did this come so… early? Is this truly the power of… Trance?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I’m not fan of the Trance mechanic gameplay, but it seems from a story point of view, it’s a super powerful power, enough for Garland to see Zidane as the superior Angel of Death.
> 
> Zidane’s lack of speech was inspired from personal experience. Most members of my wide family (including cousins and all) could barely speak or they had speech delays when younger, even after starting school, but they were still super bright. Today, they are geniuses working as engineers, workers in the health field and more. I just wanted to make Zidane a silly, yet bright kid!


	5. Chapter 4: Trance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks a lot for the comments and kudos!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

An odd, thrilling rush ran through his veins burning with a hatred and a cathartic desire to kill his enemy, yet, all with an innocent passion to protect the one he loved dearly. Feasting his crying, yet savage eyes on his ultimate target that the mean old man had become, Zidane had not looked away from him once from the moment his body had begun to glow until now, his silhouette flashing bright and rendering him invisible to all. When the light subdued, the remnants of the flash left over a feral, furred and bare Genome child with patches of pink fur coats around his skin. Overflowed with full of energy, the boy stood with an attacking stance with his deep, heavy breathing resounding around all Pandemonium and syncing with his tail that swayed wide left and right.

At this moment, it was impossible to tell when the child was going to attack. The feral boy was completely unpredictable.

Watching that frozen horror and shock on his master’s face prompted supreme satisfaction over Zidane as his brows furrowed furthermore, his red eyes filled with malice and a mischievous grin escaping his mouth.

Zidane had ascended to his master’s ultimate goal. He had achieved Trance.

Garland could not believe it. He had conceived and created Zidane with the Trance concept in mind, but he would have never imagined to see the day of Trance so early in this child’s life. He was to reach adulthood before the power would rush into him, but everything occurred so unexpectedly. Nevertheless, this meant his experiment was a success.

“Zidane, my Angel of Death…”

Angel of Death, right. Zidane had heard the term several times before, though he never truly paid any heed to it nor that he cared. The term had no meaning to him. Right now, the only thing that mattered was the bliss forming on Garland, the pure horror swept away from his face.

Zidane was disgusted. He wanted that fear back on the mean old man.

Without any cry or snarl, the child propelled from his spot, landing straight to his master’s face who was unprepared for the attack. Zidane kicked him at full strength, driving Garland right to the ground like a projectile. The old man landed on the floor with a scream of pain and before he could even recover, the child jumped on his head with his furred, hard clawed feet, trying to shatter any bones or anything that made this android from the inside. The sight of Garland’s panic was a first for anyone on Terra and Zidane enjoyed each second of it. He hoped to see the man die with his own furred hands and claws already stained of his own blood.

What a liberating experience it will be!

And then, suddenly…

“Kuja?”

Right! Kuja! He was still drowning in the tank! If no one was going to help him, Kuja will die if he didn’t do anything!

Leaving the wrecked man behind, Zidane rushed back to the tank, crying “Kuja” again, the tears visible despite his glowing brilliance surrounding him. He flashed like he was teleporting himself, and without losing time, he continuously struck down on the tempered glass, each strike getting more desperate but stronger the higher the water hide Kuja’s slumped body.

Shaking his head after the painful blow, the old man recovered from the angel’s attack and stood back on his feet, only to nearly collapse from the shocking miracle before him. When he thought the Terran technology couldn’t be more indestructible…

… the tempered glass surrounding Kuja began to crack under Zidane’s fury.

In a matter of seconds, the tank burst into thousands of smaller glass shatters with the liquid flowing like a torrent, propelling the child away from the platform. Unaware of anything in his unconsciousness, Kuja’s body fell over, remaining on the wet platform and avoiding all the shatters with the pointed cables detaching from his limbs. Zidane, however, landed bare on the shatters, leaving him with several painful wounds on his body. But his pain was not deterring him away from his mission to get rid of the man that brought calamity over his brother. With Kuja freed from death, it was time to take his fateful matter in hands.

The light surrounding his body in Trance intensified when Zidane stood back and left a furious growl, now staring back at Garland, his red, teary eyes glowing with a rising fury. The growing anger flooded as he could no longer feel the pain and the blood from his injuries. Ignoring his entire environment but the old man before him, the wild child rushed to him, attempting to claw and bite him to nothingness. If he was going to be an Angel of Death, he might as well bring death to his despicable creator that brought him life.

A blending of bliss and horror running through, Garland could feel the rising raw and even spiritual strength coursing through the young angel. It was surpassing any of the creatures he knew of Gaia in both physical and spiritual power and even from his past life with his Terran creators. Everything else he knew had been nothing compared to this tiny prodigy. In Trance, Zidane was a creature beyond compare, one with the potential to destroy everything.

Like destroying his creator, all by himself.

But Garland was not ready to surrender his life. Catching the feral boy in Trance with his wide hands, Garland tried squeezing him between his palms to incapacitate him into doing anything else. However, with the rising strength, Zidane succeeded to push the fingers away. Freeing himself from Garland’s grip, Zidane crept to his face again like a sucking parasite, attempting to claw the man’s eyes out.

As a last resort, Garland projected a Sleep spell on the boy, hoping it’d do the job.

It did not.

Zidane’s power was at its peak now, Garland sensed it. The child was still filled with pure, ecstatic energy needed to be wasted on his worst enemy. No ailment magic will affect him. Only pure strength will stop the feral beast from turning his master into a mess of metallic chaos.

Even in Trance, four years of life was not enough to reach its full potential to defeat the millennium man Zidane hated so much. No more worried to injure his precious angel, Garland gripped to the child by his tail, which caught the young boy by shock. Despite having trained his tail, it was not enough to escape his master’s grasp. Pulling the child out of his face, the old man launched Zidane hard to the glass shatters on the ground, close to where his unconscious brother was lying.

The landing had been so violent on the child that it left him knocked out. The glow of his body vanished, and Zidane returned to his regular form, losing his Trance power.

At last, Garland could breathe easy.

With both brothers lost in dreamland, Garland was now allowed moments to admire his marvelous, crafted genetic work. Zidane was truly the perfect Angel of Death he had envisioned, even beyond his own calculating expectations. Indeed, his young creation had successfully developed the emotional experiences he needed to ascend Trance. The emotional response from the fear of losing his only loved one, the failed prototype Kuja, had truly provoked the power to surge out.

If another event of this sort would happen again years later, when the perfect creation will develop into his full potential, Garland could not imagine the possibilities.

All these affections and love, concepts that Garland could never fully comprehend, were needed for their purposes. The brothers shared these concepts between them. Both angels must be used for his plan. Zidane got all emotional depending of Kuja’s condition and presence. Kuja was the only one who could control Zidane without the use of any controlling device. Zidane needed Kuja as his sole caregiver. They had to work together to bring death upon Gaia. Together, their potential for conquest and destruction will become infinite.

Kuja was the key to initiate Zidane’s Trance.

Yes, on a technical point of view, Kuja was a defect, a failed prototype. However, to one innocent child’s eyes, Kuja was his sole family, his dear brother. Zidane had no concept of failure or success. There were only creatures to love or to hate, and Kuja was currently the only one capable of providing him the love a child needed to develop his core.

Because Zidane needed Kuja, the failure will get to keep his soul. Even if Garland knew it will be impossible for Kuja to always obey him, unless for his own convenience, he knew Zidane’s naivety might drive him to follow Kuja always. The silver-haired angel's dream to become an all-powerful being will guide him to become a ruler of countries and worlds which will lead to war. Zidane will agree to all this, thus bringing more deaths on their tolls.

A strange satisfaction ran through his core. Garland could not be happier that everything seemed to go as planned so far. Only some more manipulative ways from his part to shove onto his two special Genome siblings, and his days to see Terra’s return to glory will be coming soon.

He had to learn to be more patient for the next years.

* * *

“Wh… What happened…?”

Why was there a fog blocking his memories and thoughts? How was this so hard to think through why he was slumping lazily on the ground in a pose so stiff and strange each muscle of his body hurt? Kuja shook his head and rubbed his eyes, struggling to see where he was. When the blur of his vision turned clear and sharp, he could see himself sitting on one of these pod platforms found in Bran Bal with which they tended to sick Genomes or from where they were all born. However, this place did not look much like the Bran Bal he was so familiar with. Whether his hometown bathed in the painful blue light from above, this hot, burning place appeared like hell in all its crimson splendor.

He had only been there once before. He was in Pandemonium.

What was he doing in Pandemonium? Wasn’t this the area where all the Terran souls, beside his and his brother’s, were kept in stasis until Terra’s crystal will revive to its full strength? And why were there so many Genomes around busy cleaning the remaining mess on the ground? What happened and why didn’t Kuja get to witness anything that had occurred before? Wasn’t he in the Invincible earlier?

Then an image flashed in his mind.

A panicking, crying Zidane staring at him.

Wait a minute. His plan to send his brother on Gaia… Garland… Zidane…!

“Where’s Zidane?” Kuja uttered as he caught the arm of the Genome closest to him.

Barely alarmed by Kuja’s move, the Genome turned to him, aware of being addressed. Gazing at the angel for a moment with his blank glare, the vessel turned his vision back farther away behind Kuja where he pointed toward a group of Genomes gathered around a point of interest. Readying his impassive voice as Kuja turned around, he said, “Zidane is over there. Our siblings are tending to his injuries.”

Shocked by the comment, Kuja shook the Genome by the shoulders. “Injuries? What happened to Zidane?”

The soulless Genome’s voice was devoid of emotion, not the least concerned of his potential savior. “Zidane has sustained injuries from Master Garland after he has attacked him.”

This was even more shocking. “What?” Kuja uttered, shaking his head in confusion. “Why did Zidane attack Master Garland?”

“Master Garland told us Zidane was protecting you from him.”

Such a blunt, direct answer, but this answer was enough to satisfy his curiosity.

Zidane was… protecting him. Kuja was not certain how he should take this. Whatever happened to trigger that rage and courage in this tiny boy, Kuja couldn’t help but feel a rising anger in his heart. At the same time, a growing warmth soothed the pain of his heart, appeasing his soul from wanting to rip apart their creator for having done something to his brother, if something did happen.

But there he was, a completely helpless twelve-year-old angel in the body of a young adult man protected by a small child who had barely reached his fourth year. Was he truly a failure as Garland had claimed when he could not even protect himself while a child could?

He recalled everything now, the incident that probably had led Zidane to attack their master. Thanks to Kuja’s insolence, Garland was going to get his soul back and turn him into an empty vessel like the others. He could not remember how he lost consciousness or how he ended up in Pandemonium, but he was reminded of hearing Zidane screaming his name endlessly, fearing to lose his big brother and sole caregiver. For certain, Zidane had gotten no help, with all the other passive Genomes who could do nothing but obey their creator.

How did Zidane manage to protect him… no, save him from Garland, the unconquerable, all-feared Master of Terra of five thousand years?

Had Kuja underestimated Zidane’s strength, once again?

No, he had to draw his concern over something else than his own pathetic failure. Kuja stood back and dashed to the Genomes’ gathering, tossing them away to check on his brother. With the compliant Genomes stepping aside, when Kuja saw the ground, his heart formed into an aching knot. Zidane’s unconscious body lied on the floor, bruised across each part of his body that had been cleaned by their soulless siblings. The child’s head, arms, legs and even tail were covered with tight bandages that featured stains of blood and dust.

Thanks goodness, Zidane was going to be okay. Kuja could rest easy now.

Kneeling over the body, Kuja wrapped Zidane between his arms, the same arms the boy had been so familiar with, where he would normally find comfort and peace. Careful to not wake him as the last thing Kuja needed was to hear his annoying, loud bawls, he replaced the child to cradle him and he casted a Curaga magic. Thankfully, Zidane remained in slumber.

“… Sleep well, Zidane.”

Indeed. Kuja just attained a new level of confidence now. Aware of Zidane’s blind faith in his brother, Kuja knew the boy will trust him with anything, because Zidane trusted Kuja to his fullest. This child’s loyalty was beyond recognition and he will always follow his elder brother, no matter what.

Together, they will be Garland’s enemies.

“This child's grand affinity with you is beyond my expectations.”

Normally, when he’d hear Garland’s voice from behind, Kuja’s hairs on his tail would rise with dread. However, this time, he was not afraid. He could hear the anger in his master’s voice, and yet, he knew there was no intention for harm. That comment twisted into a compliment beneath and Kuja couldn’t stop that smile from appearing on his lips. “My, thank you so much, Master Garland,” he said, mocking the old man. After all, Zidane’s affinities for his brother were the fruits of Kuja’s efforts alone.

“Humph,” Garland huffed from behind, not bothered to reach his creation's field on vision, seeing Kuja was not even looking back. The young Genome appeared too busy rocking the child brother. “This affinity is the only reason I have a change of mind. I am letting you keep your soul. You will continue to raise Zidane under your wing. He will be a fitting angel under your influence, however you think will be good for him. You will achieve your goal as Angels of Death, together.”

Garland could hear the sigh from Kuja, so he was aware the young man paid attention. The old man continued his speech. “However, because of the incident earlier, I will not tolerate your insolence anymore. You will no longer be allowed to roam freely between Terra and Gaia. You and Zidane will live on Gaia to carry out your purpose and you will bring death to it, let it be with a war or a destruction. As long as we can get Terra’s crystal assimilate Gaia’s crystal.”

“Marvelous! It is not like I long to remain in this dull, boring place,” Kuja responded with a calm chuckle. “And with what occurred just now, I cannot fathom how your precious, perfect Zidane will want to stay here either. This little brat probably does not wish to see you anymore, so banishing us on Gaia will lead everyone to happiness, am I right?”

Ignoring the tease from the young man and never changing his tone, Garland added, “You will leave in one week. Until then, be sure to make proper preparations.”

* * *

The next day, when Kuja gathered his supply for his permanent trip to Gaia, he came to check upon his brother on his bed.

The child was still sound asleep.

Since yesterday, Kuja had noted the progresses Zidane made during his recovery. He continued to cast more Cure spells on him, hoping it will wake the child faster, noting that Zidane had already recovered from his injuries when his bandages were removed. All that remained for him was to wake up and bear the good news that they will no longer be coming back to the home planet they hated.

It was a funny thought, knowing that Zidane would always be disappointed whenever they had to return to Terra after a trip from Gaia. It was clear the boy wanted to make Gaia their new home, and Kuja was not against the idea either.

At least Zidane will be okay, but his slumber had been lasting more than a day and it was getting a little worrisome. A memory of his past suddenly flashed back, with Garland beating him when a very exhausted Kuja had casted a Sleep spell on Zidane to get some recuperating sleep for himself, nearly killing the boy.

And then, Kuja realized that his master had casted that same darn spell on Zidane. It must have hit him harder, being a mere child. With his young brother being older now since that incident, Zidane was probably developed enough to be able to go on without sustenance for few days in his sleep. At the very least, Zidane will wake up a little weaker, but definitely okay.

Still, if only Garland could be punished for having shoved the very same pain on Zidane as Kuja did years ago, which had ended with Kuja being punished for it.

Nevertheless, being banished on Gaia will buy him time. With Garland too far to guess Kuja’s plan to overthrow him, his next years will be crucial to concoct something against their creator. For now, even if he’d team up with Zidane, he could not take on Garland, that all-powerful bastard with five thousand years of combat experience. Yet, that old organic android must have his limits and he must have reached that limit centuries ago. Thanks to this limit, Kuja and Zidane will acquire the coveted experience on Gaia. Together, they will be strong enough to kill the man they despised so much.

And when this will happen, they will be freed of Garland’s control. Kuja will rule the worlds, both Terra and Gaia. With everything they had to endure, he had no care what the others will think of him as a ruler, as their masters. If everything went well, perhaps Kuja himself will be a better ruler than Garland and whoever ruled over Gaia. Sentient races will see him as a god, a true Angel of Death.

This was a dream to hold on to. It will keep him going.

And, as for Zidane…

As long as Kuja maintained the trust and bond between them, Zidane will listen to him. By keeping him tame, Zidane will never rebel against his older brother. After all, providing Zidane proper health care might have been difficult through his four years, but giving him love was as easy as pea. Zidane’s presence might have been the only great thing Garland had ever created, and the boy had the same, if better power potential that Kuja possessed.

For this, he had to be careful.

Ah, what should he do when he’ll rule the worlds? The thought offered him some thrilling rushes.

A sound behind him stirred him away from his reverie for world domination. The entrance door burst open in his small home where the man he despised stood. The sight of him disgusted him so much that as soon as his eyes were set on him, Kuja turned his back at him, staying to his bed where Zidane was sleeping. “He’s still asleep,” Kuja said when he brushed a hand on his brother’s cheek. “Are you coming to laugh at our misery?”

“It is not my intention,” Garland responded, oddly enough, with a very neutral tone. “I have come here to share you with the information of a new feature that I will give you both. It will be a power that will allow you to communicate with each other without the need of physical devices.”

Kuja chuckled. “What if I say no?”

“I will still input that power in you two, whether you like it or not.”

Truth be told, while Kuja was giving out laugh out of mockery at the old man, deep within, he was still outraged that he will never be truly freed until he could get rid of his master for good. One more reason to justify Garland’s death. “I see, so you are giving us no choice,” the silver-haired Genome whispered to himself before he finally turned over, expressing the best of his sadistic smiles. “Then please, Master! Enlighten me about what this ‘new feature for communicating’ exactly consists of so I can get a delicious foretaste of what you are going to shove into us!”

Garland remained calm over his angel’s attitude. “This feature will allow you two, as Angels of Death, to communicate with each other with telepathy without the need to speak out loud your words, regardless of the distance between you two. Do not worry about the privacy between you both as you will be able to block your thoughts from being read by the other. This will be a useful feature to input to your settings. If one gets lost or is too far, you will be able to tell with your connected minds where you are. This will allow you to keep your plans a secret from the Gaians, if it ever comes to that.”

There was one fact Kuja was certain about Garland and it was the man’s inability to lie. That was right. Garland, that all supreme, powerful being of Terra, despite his powers over all the creatures of his home planet, had been created piece by piece by the ancient Terrans to fulfill his destiny as Terra’s savior. One of the inputs the extinct Terrans had programmed into him was that when Garland was certain of a fact, he must always tell the truth and never lie. If Garland had let him know of this magic feature he intended on giving them, then Kuja trusted this will be exactly what he will be getting.

Once again, this will be another great convenience for him. Being able to communicate by telepathy sounded intriguing, but he was not sure if Zidane will appreciate this. Whatever, he will have to accept it.

Standing back on his feet with his young brother in his arms, Kuja gave him some pats on the back before he walked to his master, now ready for anything. “Fine, show me the way, O Master Garland!” Kuja hummed out, putting an odd emphasis on the word “master”. Garland did not like his attitude, but he will have to bear it until few more days.

In the basement laboratory, the equipment and settings were ready to be used with few other Genomes waiting for their arrivals. One of the vessels indicated Kuja to stand on one of the pod platforms, where he will be enclosed inside a glass tank. The thought of being inside them had always brought him some fear, but he trusted that nothing bad will happen, except for being given that power to him. As there was only one available tank right now, Kuja had to offer the sleeping Zidane to Garland’s arms before he stepped on the platform.

As Kuja waited for the process to begin, the glass tube enclosed him in before cables and needles came to crawl under his skin. When the water began to fill the tank, his lids grew heavy, and soon, he lost consciousness without worrying as he knew this was part of the process. Only few minutes went by when Kuja woke up on the platform, still wet from the process of receiving the power.

Strange, he didn’t feel any different and Garland could tell the same by looking into Kuja’s puzzled expression. “You will notice the difference when Zidane will receive this feature too,” Garland reassured him.

His deep, loud voice snapped Zidane away from his cursed slumber. Exhausted after such a long sleep, the child lazily moved his limbs, realizing he had been asleep against someone’s body for some time. Blinking until the blur of his vision turned sharper, he gave away few tired moans and long yawns before he attempted to sleep again. He brushed his face against the man’s chest until he grasped at the bright red light and the cold surface of this dark metallic armor.

These were not Kuja’s arms and chest. When he looked up, he saw him. He saw the mean old man.

Zidane snarled and growled at him.

“Zidane, it’s okay,” the older brother hushed to Zidane as Kuja walked to his master who was still holding the child. Thankfully, Kuja’s soft voice came with the desired effect of appeasing the boy. Zidane suppressed his growls but his furrowed brows hinting his anger at Garland remained. “Master Garland will not hurt you. He is going to add you a new power and the process will not hurt you.”

The boy did not make out much of what he had been told. However, he knew everything will go well when Kuja came to pick him from Garland, to which Zidane did not protest. He put the child on the platform and pet him on the head, making himself reassuring with a warm smile, the kind he’d only give to his brother. It worked to lay off the worry on Zidane’s face.

“Master Garland will modify you a little bit so we can speak with each other with our mind, okay?” Kuja hushed to the kid, and Zidane listened. “It will not hurt you and you will like this, I am sure of this.”

The glass tank enclosed the boy, now separating him from his big brother and the rest of the world. Panic began to take place, but Kuja waited close to him with his palms on the glass. Trying to show how brave he was, Zidane put his palms where Kuja put his. The warm smile on Kuja’s lips brought so much comfort to him that Zidane had never noticed the needles piercing him before he went to slumber.

Minutes later, when Zidane woke up after the power transfer, it was now time to test this new feature. As Zidane had no clue what happened, Kuja will have to initiate the process.

“ ** _Zidane, you hear me, right?_** ”

By judging Zidane’s reaction to this attempt, Kuja knew this was working perfectly. Seemingly shocked, Zidane gave Kuja a glare of confusion, never stopping to frown and blink at him. Now, the only thing that lacked was for Zidane to test this newly gained power himself. “Y-Yes?” the boy stuttered in confusion.

“ ** _Okay, now, try to say ‘Yes' in your head as if you speak to me._** ”

Unable to grasp the reason why Kuja wanted this, Zidane tried to follow whatever his brother meant.

“ ** _Yes._** ”

This was a good start. Garland had given them exactly what he advertised, and Kuja felt like this will go better and better from now on. When it took Zidane longer to understand the concept, both brothers spent the rest of the day to practice this new feature. Kuja was able to master it after few hours, but Zidane felt it was more like a game rather than a feature, not aware that this will be a permanent power that will follow them the rest of their living existence.

He will get used to it, eventually.

Days later, the day before they were set to leave Terra for good, another surprise came to the brothers when Garland arrived in their room. Before the old man could even make his first step in, Zidane hissed at him. Each time, this feral reaction amused Kuja. It was so ironic for Garland to put so much faith into his most precious creation that utterly loathed him.

Garland learned to stop being irritated by this startling reaction over time. Yet, he was shocked when Zidane’s growls were immediately dropped when the child spotted something shifting under Garland’s arms. That thing looked like a moving ball of silver fur, like a big version of Kuja’s tail.

And he was enthralled by it.

“You are going to need this,” Garland said as he offered the moving thing from his arms, laying it on the ground before the brothers. Kuja was in slight shock when he recognized the creature as a Silver Dragon hatchling. “As it can fly, it will provide you transportation and protection on Gaia, if it ever comes to that. Gaia is an immense planet beyond the Outer Continent’s size, after all.”

“My, how unusually generous of you, Master,” Kuja commented with a grin, the shock on his face now gone. “Why so many goodbye gifts in such a short period of time?”

“It is for your convenience, that is all,” the old man replied with a blunt tone. “A Silver Dragon can fly for long hours and does not require a lot of care. They grow up fast and have great lifespans. If I need you to carry on with your purpose as successfully as possible, I must provide you with the most proper resources available.”

Not bothering to listen to their discussion, Zidane set his eyes on the dragon for an instant. The small furred creature opened its eyes, staring back at the Genome child before it let out tiny shrieks. Instincts kicking in again, the child crouched into his attacking stance, ready to tear this monster apart.

“No!” Kuja shouted and Zidane jumped with fright, not having expected his brother to scream at him. “This Silver Dragon is our friend, so you better be nice with it.”

A new friend? Did Kuja already call it a friend?

How strange. Since the day he became aware of the world and his own existence, Kuja had never taken anyone or anything for granted friends. It even had taken him some times to fully accept Zidane as a part of his loved ones, a bond that had needed months from developing together. Calling this creature a friend before he even got to interact with it was still a new notion to him, and somehow, he felt good about it.

If only they could have done the same with everything they had met.

Kuja caught the hatchling in his arms and Zidane came to join them, both giving a stare of amazement at the creature. Now with Kuja calling it a friend, Zidane began to brush his fingers over the fur on its cheeks, prompting it to purr and lick Zidane’s hands.

To Kuja’s pleased awe, Zidane laughed and petted the dragon, now craving for its affection.

Leaving them alone to get used to the hatchling's company, Garland closed the door behind him.

With Garland out of the way and with only the three of them together, whether they were Genomes or Silver Dragon, their last day on Terra won’t be as boring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve always thought that the Silver Dragons were initially Garland’s creations because of the way they disappear when you kill them. But unlike the soulless Genomes, they can reproduce and all and that they have one that acts as a Queen, which is the Nova Dragon. Garland probably sets them free around the Iifa Tree, so that’s why you see many of them when the party goes to Memoria.
> 
> Also, is it just me, or the Silver Dragons’ design is the perfection for a legendary Pokémon? I feel like they’d make a great Ghost/Dragon type.
> 
> Also that image has so many errors but I got lazy and decided to leave it like this.


	6. Chapter 5: Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably made Kuja too caring in this fic, but I feel like he’d be a more caring man if he wasn’t alone like in the game.
> 
> As usual, thanks for kudos!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

This was it, their last day on Terra.

Before the two brothers and their new dragon hatchling were teleported away on Gaia, Garland ordered his soulless Genomes to refrain from taking commands of the teleportation control device for now. When he did, he walked closer to the trio, with Kuja giving their master a long glare and Zidane hiding behind his brother’s legs while giving out a low, continuous growl at the man.

“What are you waiting for, O Master Garland? Are you prolonging our stay here because you are going to miss us?” Kuja hummed his usual mocking melody to Garland. Confused, Zidane shut his growls and stared at his brother instead, blinking and pulling his arm gently. It had become Kuja’s new routine to hum like this whenever he spoke to the old man.

Of course, Garland ignored the tease. “Before I send you, I need to inform you that you will not be able to board the Invincible, but I have reprogrammed it so you will be able to control its destructive powers remotely with your newly acquired communication feature.”

“Oh? Destructive powers?” Kuja commented with a giggle. “If it possesses such destructive powers, why did you even bother to create two Angels of Death to commence a war? Can you not simply use the Invincible to destroy all lives on Gaia and be done with it? This is five thousand years of efforts for naught!”

Garland shrugged off the comment. “The Invincible does not have unlimited powers. It can control spirits and destroy entire towns, but abusing too much of its power will require it to be recharged for long years.”

The smile on Kuja’s lips spread into a grin. “So, basically, your ancient masters’ ‘perfect’ technology is flawed.”

“Can’t you just shut your mouth sometimes?!”

Satisfied, Kuja let out a sudden laugh, even frightening Zidane who had no idea what went through his brother. “Okay, okay,” the silver-haired young man exclaimed after calming himself. “You are lending us the Invincible and its control but we cannot board it. Right. It does not matter. We will have Mahila to fly around, anyway.”

Garland questioned the new word. “Ma… hila?”

“The Silver Dragon you generously offered us,” Kuja answered. “You should know it better than I do, having known the ancient Terrans. ‘Mahila’ means ‘Lady’ in Terran. She is being a good girl to us, so she deserves an equally good name. We might as well call her the third Angel of Death.”

“Enough, it is time for you to leave Terra and get to Gaia. Our fate is in your hands.”

With this, Garland ordered the Genomes behind him to press the buttons, initiating the teleportation process. They vanished from the teleport pods, never to come on Terra again.

_Humph, not even a goodbye_ , Kuja thought. Not that it mattered much to him at this point. They were going to be partly freed from Garland’s grasp and that was all they needed.

It was time to formulate his plan for world domination.

…

Their first week wandering on the Outer Continent had not been very fruitful to them. They did not find a place they could call home yet and their old Moogle tent began to show signs of deterioration, with holes in the fabric and insects crawling inside their only shelter. All became worse with the rain pouring down on them at nights. It did not matter much for Zidane nor Mahila when they both did not mind to sleep exposed to the wilderness, but feeling more delicate and akin to his own appearance, Kuja never seemed to get used to it.

And speaking of his brother, Kuja initially dreaded the relation between Zidane and their Silver Dragon hatchling. Being forced to stay together for a week had taught Zidane few things, mainly that he should not attack anything. He learned the concept of compassion and how to stay calm in the presence of others that were not considered enemies. Like the Genome brothers, Mahila had the instinctive tendency to show her affection by cuddling with them and they returned the move. Their exchanges had reinforced the bond between them, which will certainly become a convenience for them all.

With their strong bond growing, they all fought together against the wild of Gaia, protecting each other from dangers and feasting on their preys. This was going all great so far.

But despite all the good things, Kuja still wished for a true home where they will settle together.

Back on Terra, Garland had lent Kuja an old holographic map of the Outer Continent where he had marked a dot of light over what looked like a desert region. According to their master, few ancient Terran structures had left marks on Gaia after the two planets’ failed fusion, five thousand years ago. That dot on his map was one of the hidden Terran palaces. Being located in a hot desert didn’t appeal to Kuja, but it appeared much better than having no home at all.

As they continued to walk through the mountains and bare plains of the Outer Continent, fighting all preys and monsters on their way, they finally reached the desert. From there, they will need to walk few more days. Kuja gave away a sigh of exhaustion.

Thankfully, the tasteless synthetic food they had collected from Terra were supplying them with enough sustenance to cross the desert without having to find water and food. And even better, Mahila had gained strength and volume in a short time just as Garland had assured them. While her wings were obviously too weak to offer her the ability of flight, at least, she could bear the light weight of Zidane on her back without too much effort. This will allow them a faster travel as Zidane, even with his seemingly endless stamina and even as Garland’s “perfect” angel, was still a child in need of constant naps. Even with Kuja’s slower steps, Zidane could not walk as far as Kuja was capable of in the long run.

On their third day after they had reached the desert for the first time, they discovered a wide and tall grotto in the middle of a small mountain range. If Kuja had correctly followed the map Garland had given him, then they had reached their destination. Around this grotto, there should be some kind of Terran structure hidden around or beneath. They will soon be able to rest for a long while. What a relief.

Getting off Mahila fast, Zidane was the first to venture further into the grotto to give this place some exploration. His young curiosity won over his patience to find new treasures and creatures in this unknown territory. Kuja trusted his brother will not get lost or disappear, especially with their new telepathy feature Garland had offered them, both having mastered the power now.

“ ** _Don’t go too far. Don’t leave my field of vision,_** ” Kuja told Zidane with their connected minds.

“ ** _Yes!_** ” Zidane answered right away.

Somehow, this was kind of amusing that they could sense the emotions of the other in their telepathic link as if they were truly hearing the voices but without the use of their mouth. At first, the experience was strange, but now, it was as natural as speaking out loud. Even reverting from either way of communicating with each other had become easy. However, with his natural short attention span, Zidane had harder moments speaking in his mind and doing something else at the same time.

Only a minute elapsed that Zidane called his brother again.

“ ** _Kuja! Kuja!_** ”

“ ** _Hey, Zidane, did you find something interesting?_** ”

“ ** _Yes!_** ”

Yet, Zidane still spoke only three words in their connected minds…

With Mahila following behind, Kuja led the dragon’s way to the only path deeper to the grotto, where Zidane had run off. The young man and their growing hatchling walked around a set of stairs before finding Zidane on the ground, standing before a dead-end with some carved and painted shapes around. Kuja recognized the designs as of Terran origins, so Garland had been right about this place belonging to their ancient civilization.

Kuja inspected the surrounding, trying to find a functioning device or anything. These appeared like these teleportation pods found on Terra, mainly in Pandemonium and the Invincible, so there must be a way to reactivate them after long years of inactivity. After few minutes of search, he found a button which he pushed, and the patterns began to glow.

Making himself reassuring when he saw that Zidane and Mahila were swept by panic with all the lights around them, he brought them with him in the middle of the circle pattern. As a flash of light surrounded them, they were lifted away to another area.

They appeared in a completely dark area.

And this time, Kuja panicked.

He was suddenly reminded of that dark room that Garland would push him in, all alone, whenever he felt like his angel had been too insolent.

Wait a minute. This was no Terra here. They were on Gaia, out of Garland’s reach and power. This could not be the same dark room as the tiny one on Terra. There probably was no anti-magic field in here either.

In the blink of an eye, Kuja made use of a basic Fire spell, which came to him like a breeze. Both brothers found themselves amazed inside a sort of wide hall with fine works of arts, very much like the well-crafted structures Kuja had seen in Conde Petie and Madain Sari. Despite the permanent, very hot weather outside this palace, this area was filled with enough comforting fresh air.

Yes, this palace in the desert will be their new home. It was about time they found a permanent shelter, with their now unusable Moogle tent.

The following week was spent to explore this grand palace which had been inhabited by several monsters and pests that had made this place home, with no master to claim this area as theirs. Of course, with the palace being of Terran origins, Kuja claimed the right to remove all these creatures from their new home. Thankfully, the brothers had no problem fighting these pests together. Besides, they cooked delicious meats from these monsters.

To Kuja’s pleased shock, they discovered few rooms full of old but intact books, mostly about the science and nature of the ancient Terrans and other fictional and real Terran tales, from romance to humor and adventures to dramas. From what Garland had taught him, except for their technological advancements, the Terrans were not so different from the Gaians in their social structures and cultures.

Reading about the Terran culture should help him to plan ideas for a global war or anything else that could wipe out lives on Gaia. Whenever he took his sweet time reading some of these books, Zidane enjoyed spending his days playing fight with Mahila.

Speaking of the Silver Dragon, after a month, she attained the built of a full-grown dragon, but being a mere adolescent in dragon growth, she was smaller than an adult. Flight was an ability she still lacked as her wings were too weak and small to allow her to propel in the air, but she was able to bear the weight of both Genomes at the same time now. Only few more months will be needed before she will be an adult.

Well, it should be about time for Zidane to focus on books too. While he could not speak much than his default three words of Kuja, Yes and No, strangely enough, Zidane was capable of writing and spelling all letters. Once, he surprised his brother when he showed him a paper where he had written his own name and Kuja’s.

Unfortunately for Kuja, Zidane was not too keen on reading, and reading was necessary to learn magic.

Oh well, too bad. Zidane probably had very few to no potential for magic. Perhaps this was how Garland had intended him to be…

* * *

“ ** _Kuja, Zidane, I am hoping you have not forgotten about the purpose of your stay on Gaia._** ”

The voice had come so abruptly it threw both brothers out of their sleep like a nightmare creeping into their mind. Kuja arose his body from his bed while Zidane was pushed away to the side by the move, finding himself thrown on the floor in a rude awakening. With their hearts pumping into faster beats, they held their chests with a pang of pain. Kuja felt he was going to get a cardiac arrest that he thought to see death at his door.

But this was no cardiac arrest nor death. These were shock and fear.

Confused by the voice he just heard, Zidane jumped all around, trying to find the origin of the voice that woke them. The voice was familiar, yet distant, one that he wished to forget, one he hated without being certain why anymore. However, Kuja remained quiet, frozen to his bed with a startling realization. When Zidane spotted the expression of terror on his brother’s face, the boy calmed himself before he coveted the warmth from him. Wanting to soothe his distress, Zidane crawled himself under Kuja’s arms, hugging him.

“ ** _What?_** ” Zidane asked, using their linked minds.

After several months since their banishment from Terra, even in dire, dark times like these, Kuja was always glad to hear the fruits of his efforts. Zidane had made few progresses of adding more words to his vocabulary. Hearing these new words, whenever they were short, one-syllable words, brought some warmth to his heart.

Zidane’s evolution was a happy, yet sad reminder that Kuja was not alone in this unfair fate as puppets of Terra.

That old voice boiled the rage burning inside him.

Garland, how could he…?

Trying to remain stoic and cool, Kuja said, “ ** _You never told us that you were part of that ‘little feature of connected minds’ you gave us, Master Garland. Were you lying to us?_** ”

“ ** _You know as much as I do that I cannot lie to you,_** ” Garland revealed, not concerned by his servant’s despair. “ ** _I have decided to add this feature to myself shortly after your departure from Terra. I have never told you of my plan to link my mind with yours for our convenience._** ”

Furious, Kuja turned his hands into shaking fists. “ ** _You damn robot…_** ”

“ ** _If you worry that I will bother you all the time, fear not. I am simply reminding you of your mission when I feel like you will stray away from your life purpose._** ”

_So, you are not giving us any freedom at all,_ Kuja thought as he shook his body with a low growl.

Unable to bear more of that deep voice in his head, Zidane bounced off his brother’s arms and landed on the floor, growling and snarling like a feral beast at the bad entity he’d been trying to search and tear apart. The poor boy had no idea what was happening, and of course, Garland was safe from where he stood.

But watching Zidane acting in a wild rage at the voice still offered some reassurance to Kuja. While he pitied the boy, he was glad Zidane’s hatred for Garland had not subdued from their master’s lack of presence over the months.

Without being sure why, Kuja laughed at the old man, catching Zidane’s attention and prompting him to freeze while he stared at Kuja in confusion. “ ** _I don’t think Zidane remembers you much,_** ” the older Genome added with a smile. “ ** _Even if he does, he probably does not want to remember you. Few months to a young child are a very long time, and you know how his short attention span and his legendary constant distracted mind make it very easy for him to forget about the more unimportant things like his creator._** ”

It was at this moment Kuja cursed their telepathic power when he was able to sense Garland’s satisfaction. The young man hated to experience his master’s happiness with his following comment. “ ** _Nevertheless, he will lead Terra to a new era of rebirth, that, I can assure you._** ”

And with it, they no longer felt the presence of their master in their connections. This was a heavy weight off their shoulders. Relieved, Zidane sighed and walked back to his brother, only to pout with worry when he grasped Kuja’s distress that had taken place of his former smile.

“What, Kuja?” Zidane asked his sibling, staring at him with wide, puppy eyes.

Giving a guilty gaze at the younger brother, Kuja slowly shook his head before laying his hand on the child’s head. “Zidane, I… I’m so sorry,” he whispered to his brother, his voice low in despair. “If only… I knew Master Garland’s scheme in this, I would have never let you to be subjected to this experiment. It is such a horrifying experience to be damned to hear your creator’s voice in your mind for the rest of your life, for him to remind you that you are forever his, that you are never truly free from your fate.”

Lending him another set of wide, innocent eyes, Zidane stared at Kuja in disarray. He did not understand the grave prospect of Kuja’s words. It was too much for a child so young to comprehend.

But the only thing a child that young needed to understand was his older brother’s sadness. Kuja was sad and Zidane felt sad too. To toss that sadness away from him, Zidane formed a big silly grin, all in an attempt to give Kuja his smile again.

To the boy’s joy, his plan succeeded. Kuja offered him a weak, yet relieved smile with a gentle chuckle.

“Thank you, Zidane, for your existence.”

* * *

Few months ago, Zidane had attained his fifth year of life.

Experiencing his life on Gaia for more than a year had been quite fruitful to the boy’s development in term of strength and general knowledge. Now, he was capable of holding short but complete conversations with Kuja and he learned how to read, write and count perfectly. While his grammar and speech were to be desired, his progresses when given his past years into consideration were spectacular.

And like Zidane, Mahila had developed well, except into a full-fledged flying adult Silver Dragon. Unfortunately for Zidane, the size of their dragon friend did not allow the child to play fight with her anymore as they had used to, but they still maintained their bond tight with snuggles and cuddles.

The only downside with this Genomes and dragon’s relationship was having a dragon friend bringing a newly killed prey to their home every day. Sometimes, Kuja would borrow parts of the prey's meat to get it cooked and eaten, but Mahila was usually left eating the prey alone.

Now with a permanent flying element available, Kuja believed they were both ready to explore the rest of the Outer Continent. Kuja was not made aware of any sentient civilizations other than the Dwarves of Conde Petie and the Humans of Madain Sari, but he hoped to meet more on other continents. For now, Garland requested them to remain on this bare continent to start smooth, for Zidane’s sake.

It was such a shame for Kuja to follow with Garland’s plan to start a war and thus destroy all these Gaian creatures one day. Going with Garland’s orders was the only way for him to keep his soul long enough to overthrow his master later, even if it will take years.

Having to visit the towns meant they had to leave their Silver Dragon outside, further away from the sentient creatures to not alert them into panic. After all, there were roaming wild Silver Dragons around the Iifa Tree and they were known as aggressive monsters by the locals, though attacks were rare.

Because of their more pacifist ways, Kuja brought Zidane to the Dwarves first. However, the older Genome was shocked with the results of their meeting.

Initially, Zidane growled at the sight of them. Yet, after realizing how the Dwarves became friendly with them on first sight and thinking they were no real threat to them, the boy started to smile and sought to meet and speak with them. These Dwarves were so much more interesting than anything else Zidane had met in his life so far. After all, his world used to be filled with empty vessels and enemies. Instead of hating them, Zidane had even begun to try imitating them with their cultural greeting, something like “Rally-Ho!” with a very lively tone which Kuja felt too ashamed to even try.

From the Dwarves, they learned of a new cultural concept that was widespread to Gaia and quite unfamiliar from the Terran culture, a concept called “marriage”, which was the union of two lovers for reproduction purpose. At least this was what Kuja gathered. From the ancient books describing the Terran civilization, no such thing had existed as lovers would simply stay together without any kind of celebrated “marriage” and reproduce without culture imposed on them. Reproduction was an amazing notion to Kuja at first as Genomes like him and Zidane were created via complete artificial means without any biological intervention. He realized his kin were the odd ones.

The first time Kuja had witnessed reproduction in the wild of Gaia, he had asked about it to Garland who revealed that Genomes, including Kuja himself, were granted with functional reproductive organs. They were capable of procreating, but without any sexual drive to lead them, none of the existing Genomes were created by natural methods so far. Besides, Garland was already creating them over time, so there was no need to reproduce. Because he had been created an adult without any physical development, Kuja knew he had not been provided any sexual drive either as these assets should develop during adolescence.

However, he might have to check Zidane in his later life…

Yet, he could not grasp the concept of marriage well. If people were driven by sexual desires as they grew, then why waiting for marriage for the act? Perhaps meeting with more Gaians will allow him to get the better idea, but if the intelligent creatures of Gaia loved the concept that was now anchored to their culture, he’ll have to accept this. Anything about Gaian culture could be useful to fulfill his goals.

For reasons he could not comprehend, the Dwarves only allowed married couple to visit their “Sanctuary”, which actually was the Iifa Tree itself. Not that it mattered when Kuja and Zidane merely crossed the mountain path to the Sanctuary by the air with their dragon friend. No one on Gaia seemed to know of the tree’s true purpose as they were praising it as a kind of monument, a wonder of nature. Considering its size and its structure, it was no wonder the Gaians saw the tree as a natural chef-d’oeuvre.

Noticing how friendly Zidane had become with the Dwarves over time, Kuja decided it was wiser to not visit their town anytime soon, fearing to see him soften to the Gaians too much. After all, at five, children like Zidane were malleable. The boy needed to be reminded that the Dwarves were Gaians, and thus their enemies. Perhaps he was not ready to meet with the Humans who Kuja knew to be viler and more corrupted, hypothetically making them easier for Zidane to not trust them at first, unlike the innocent and joyful Dwarves.

Kuja thought to come back in Conde Petie years later to wipe them out when the boy will forget about their kindness.

With the Iifa Tree now available for exploration thanks to Mahila, the brothers descended in the depth of the roots where they met the creature named Soulcage, the soul divider. The undead beast was responsible for the creation of the Mist on Gaia, a manifestation of the Gaian souls that could not return to the planet’s crystal to provide it with their memories and thus they were lost on the planet’s cycle. Stopping the cycle of souls on Gaia allowed Gaia’s spirit energy to turn into Terran energy. Thanks to the Mist over the past centuries, the population on the planet was disrupted, creating wars and monsters, thus disposing of the Gaian lives faster to allow Terra’s revival. However, since the creation of the airships fueled by the Mist, global wars had been put to a stop and the cycle of souls had returned to normal.

And this was why Garland had created Kuja and Zidane with the intent of causing calamity on Gaia with another war greater than anything they had known.

At first, Zidane thought of Soulcage as an enemy. Without any proper words to explain Kuja why he hated the undead creature on first sight and wanted to tear it apart, Kuja shrugged it off as Soulcage’s frightening appearance and that it was a close ally to Garland. Or perhaps Zidane thought Soulcage was too powerful to take on since the child screamed “Power, power, scary!” all the time. While Zidane did not remember Garland that well anymore, the old man’s name triggered his aggressive instincts and Soulcage was fast to remind him of the name. Zidane wanted to attack it, but Kuja advised him to stay calm with any allies of Garland.

Soulcage was merely an illusion to the whole Mist process of the Iifa Tree, which was why he adopted the shape of a cursed tree. Killing it will only slow down the great tree’s true purpose.

After some while, when the child had calmed down, their long meeting with Soulcage bored Zidane. He was not interested into learning all this and that, but as an Angel of Death, this was something Garland has insisted that he was taught.

On their way home after the visit with Soulcage, from the air on Mahila’s back, Zidane suddenly became excited. He pointed below while calling Kuja over and over, which had drawn the older brother’s interest. Kuja realized that Zidane was pointing at a town far to the ground which he recognized as Madain Sari, the town of the Horned Humans, a place he used to visit often until Zidane’s creation, more than five years ago.

How time flied.

Zidane insisted they went there, but Kuja advised that the Humans living there might not be tame and kind like the Dwarves. They should be careful when meeting with them because they might not even like strangers. As he did years before, Kuja knew they will have to hide their tails and their lack of horn on their forehead when visiting the town.

Over the years, Kuja had learned to perfect his sewing and tailoring skills thanks to Zidane’s constant growing body. With all the available resources in the Desert Palace, a week later, he confectioned two long cloaks with hoodies large enough to hide the most important part of their forehead and the robe part long enough to confine their furred appendage. Despite being told to be cautious with Humans, Zidane seemed enthusiastic with the idea of seeing and observing them in their “natural” habitat. The innocent boy might be expecting them to be friendly like the Dwarves. This was something to dread for as Kuja feared for Zidane to be too excited with meeting them, thus having the possibility to expose their cover.

But when they reached the town’s borders, Zidane’s excitement unexpectedly turned sour with fear in his eyes.

Keeping his distance, the boy shivered as soon as he spotted them playing on an open field close to them. The fear went surprising far as he crawled himself to hide under Kuja’s robe and hug him from beneath before curling his tail around his brother’s leg. That ignited some confused look from the older Genome.

“Huh? What’s happening?” Kuja asked him while raising his cloak and revealing the trembling child who was gripping firmly to him.

The fear of his voice clearly audible, Zidane hushed, “Humans… Power… Strong…”

“Strong? What do you mean by that?”

“Strong magic power… in Humans…”

Strong magic powers? What was this farce? Could it be that Zidane was able to sense the spiritual powers from the others in some way? Was this a feature given by Garland? Why had Kuja never been told about it or even gotten that power for himself? This could have been so useful… However, Zidane having in mind that power explained few things that had remained mysterious to Kuja for some time until now, mainly the reason why Zidane had initially feared their master and Soulcage.

Yet, if Zidane was truly blessed with such powers, despite lacking spiritual powers himself, he knew there was no need to sense jealousy over this. As long as Zidane was willing to cooperate with him, Kuja should see this feature as his own convenience. Thanks to this, he knew he was not ready to take on Garland now.

But if Zidane felt the immense power coming from these Humans, then what was the power he was speaking about? Were they adept at Black magic, White magic or even Blue magic? Kuja couldn’t tell, but from the outset, the Humans did not appear any different from the Dwarves or others. Perhaps he will have to dig deeper into this investigation.

“It’s okay,” the young man reassured him, kindly pushing the kid away from his cloak and kneeling to his level. “If you don’t attack them, they will not attack you. Just listen to what I tell you, and you’ll be okay. Just hide your tail and your forehead.” Kuja moved his hood over his head and smiled. “Just like this, alright?”

“Hmm hmm!” Zidane nodded and proceeded to imitate his big brother into hiding his unusual features.

Thus, for the first time, they ventured in the town together.

Kuja was already familiar with most of the Humans’ culture, with them being similar from what he had read about the Terrans or seen in the Dwarves. The brothers were walking among the Humans as if they were one of them, nothing but passersby and ignored by all. However, Zidane found it arduous to ignore them when this town was bursting with life the deeper they strolled inside the town. It was so strange to discover creatures looking so much like himself or Kuja, with the only physical differences of that horn on their forehead and their lack of tail. That odd feature on their head was so special to the kid he almost wished he had one for himself as these seemed aesthetically appealing to him.

But even their endearing appearances would not get the Genome boy closer to them, for their grandiose spiritual powers scared him off.

Something else was stranger to the kid. He was dazed by so many different animals and oddly quiet monsters roaming among the Humans like each of them were part of their busy lives. When some Humans were communicating with animals in an amicable way like Kuja and Zidane did with Mahila, others seemed to be raised as living prey, only to be killed later for their meat. The aspect of killing was familiar to Zidane, but keeping animals enclosed to get them killed later appeared cruel and unfair for his young mind to grasp. Everything about this town was a messy chaos of different things and lives happening at the same time. This was too overwhelming for the kid and he remained shut, never leaving Kuja’s sides.

He didn’t want to get attacked by these Humans after a false move, after all.

Yet, during their stroll, Zidane’s curiosity won over his fear when they reached an area full of children around his age gathering together with an adult leading them. Taking notice how the children looked focused and attentive, yet burst with joy and laughs, Zidane became interested into joining them. He was going to walk to them until Kuja stopped him.

“ ** _This is a teacher and his students,_** ” the young man taught his brother within their minds. “ ** _They are taught great knowledge in schools._** ”

Excited about the school concept, the kid responded, “ ** _Fun fun! I go school too?_** ”

“ ** _There are no schools for us, Genomes._** ”

Zidane pouted and sighed.

Perhaps the boy lacked companionship…

…

The next day, after having gotten used to all that “power” radiating from the Humans, Zidane insisted they visited another part of the town where even more Humans of all ages gathered. The area was filled with so much lives with all sort of things and smells available to all, with food, caged animals, inanimate objects and miscellaneous devices, exposed on tables or on the ground. Behind the tables were Humans bragging out loud about “Sales” and “best fresh food”.

This area was one of the zones Kuja had been too afraid to admit he had avoided, seeing too many people wandering on the same spot at the same time. He was afraid his cover would be busted because people might notice him and try to communicate with him. He still remembered an incident, the first and last time he visited that same area many years ago, when one of the Humans had tried offering him a freshly picked fish from the ocean. Ever since, he hadn’t ventured here except at night, where there had barely been anyone walking outside save for creepier individuals and small stray animals.

However, all these exposed meats, vegetables and fruits triggered an inconvenient appetite in Zidane’s stomach. Back in the desert, there weren’t much variety of food available to them, food which mostly consisted of monsters’ fleshes around the palace and the desert. With such a diversity of foods and delicious-looking juicy fruits, the kid’s mouth drooled with an avid hunger. His eyes were set on one particular table with many different fruits and vegetables. When Zidane rushed out of Kuja’s invisible, private bubble to reach the table, the man behind it gave the boy a glare which Zidane ignored.

“Kuja, I hungry,” the young boy whined as he pointed at one big pear.

“No, Zidane. It is not the time to eat,” the older brother protested, hushing him to settle down.

Yet, this was triggering more energy to burst out from the kid. He bounced once and said, “But I hungry. Many fruits here! Fruits good! I want!”

“No, don’t take them,” Kuja sighed at him before he turned away, expecting Zidane to do the same. “We need to walk around more. We’ll get something to eat at home and then-”

“Hey, kid! That pear’s ten gil!”

That new hoarse, loud voice froze the young man on the spot. Kuja turned around again, only to face Zidane having sunk his teeth into the pear he had pointed at earlier with an arm caught by the man behind the table. The man was nowhere willing to release the child when the grip to the arm tightened and brought more pain. Zidane struggled to free himself while he left out a growl and this prompted panic to come over Kuja. The young man quickly caught the man’s arm, his worries washed over his face as he begged the man to release Zidane’s arm, which the man reluctantly did. Instead, the stranger’s glare was drawn toward the young man.

Taking a breath out of anxiety and trying to hush himself, Kuja spoke with the man, adopting his most reassuring tone. “I-I apologize,” Kuja began, looking at the man with pleading eyes. He took the pear from Zidane’s hand and put it back on the table. “I will get my brother and we will be going. Don’t m-”

However, Kuja’s sentence was cut with a grip to his own arm as the man appeared more furious than ever. The clutch was so hard Kuja winced in pain, triggering a slight alarm in Zidane who Kuja tried to calm down. “This kiddo already bit into this pear!” the man snarled at him. “Can’t sell this anymore, ya know?! Where’s my ten gil?”

Having to deal with two aggressive people was already a difficult task. Trying to understand what the man meant was something else. Kuja struggled to give a proper response to him, but he couldn’t think of anything. “Ten… gil…?”

Taken by an intensifying rage, in a violent and abrupt move, the man dragged Kuja closer to him, accidently pulling the cloak out of him. “Ten gil, right! You scoundrels better hand it over, or else… else…”

Something had shut the man to stupor, something he had never imagined to see in his lifetime. Frozen by the shock, holding onto the young silver-haired man’s cloak in his hand, he could not take his sight off the two odd brothers.

That young man possessed no horn and he sported a moving furred tail matching his strange hair color.

“W-What are you?!” the man stuttered out loud, the hand still holding the tailed young man. What was this humanoid creature? He couldn’t have come from anywhere! Drawing attention from all around, he yelled, “Thieves, thieves! Yo-”

The yelling man was interrupted by a sudden deep bite to the arm, causing him to scream. Zidane was gnawing at him to free Kuja from his clutch. With both brothers freed and the man too busy trying to tame down the bloodied injury on his arm, Kuja and Zidane escaped the place, pushing all the Humans on their way as they were getting horrified glares and gasps from the others.

“ ** _What… Thief? What I do bad?_** ” a rushing Zidane cried out in their minds, trying to run away from everything and leading the way with Kuja behind.

But Kuja seemed out of breath already. He wasn’t used to all this danger and dash in a civilized environment. Running, avoiding all the Humans and trying to find an answer to his brother at the same time were proven rather demanding. “ ** _I… don’t know…_** ” the young man admitted, feeling his lungs out of breath.

They thought they could finally get some rest after reaching close to the town’s border. Unfortunately, armored armed men soon appeared around them, circling the brothers with their weapon pointed at them. “Stop right here!” one of the men shouted as panic stirred in the Genomes. They must be the protectors of the town.

No, they couldn’t just let themselves captured. They had the power to dispose of these Humans. All their trainings weren’t for naught! Even if Garland had told them to not cause any useless uproar among Gaians…

… it was either the brothers or these Humans…

Before Kuja even collected his spiritual energy to start his magic attacks, Zidane stopped right before one of the men, taking his cloak out of convenience, causing another shock to the Humans who were startled by his appendage and lack of horn. After emitting a wild snarl and with his old feral instincts surging, Zidane latched onto a man’s head like a parasite, clawing his eyes out and prompting everyone around to scream. Blinded by the injury and the excruciating pain, the man tried getting the tailed boy out of his face.

Instead, Zidane latched his tail around the man’s neck and propelled him to the ground in a brutal landing, causing him to pass out. Satisfied by the move, the child picked the man’s two daggers from his belt, intending on using them on the other men. With the weapons, he bounced to the side, avoiding the trajectory of a sword before he slashed through one’s chest and throat, silencing him instantly.

Swift like the wind, Zidane jumped to another man who had no time to retaliate, piercing his throat with the two daggers and leaving him to the ground in a slow and painful death.

Meanwhile, Kuja focused on a group of men and casted some Firaga and Blizzaga spells from distance, incapacitating them all at once. This plan worked well at first until Kuja found himself out of breath. Yet, more armed men came to their kin's rescue, all trying to take on the powerful and agile Genome brothers. The young mage had never fought like this before, and he was now too fatigued to cast anything else.

However, Zidane remained as energetic as ever and he was ready to kill more of them with his newly acquired daggers.

“ ** _No, Zidane! Stop this! We need to escape and get back to Mahila!_** ” Kuja shouted at him in their telepathic link, which Zidane thankfully detected and complied to. They both rushed to the only opening, where there were no men to block their path, leaving behind them a mess of blood, wounded and death, never looking back.

One of the armed men tried rushing after the brothers, with the man from the crowded place following closely behind, still holding onto his bloodied arm. Unfortunately, the two tailed creatures were now too far in the open of the outside fields. There was no way to reach the thieves and the man growled at himself in horror and fury. They had to do something about these two very dangerous strangers. “What the heck are they?!” the armed man exclaimed after having stopped to run to get his breath back.

“I-I don’t know, dammit!” the other man huffed out, now catching his breath too. “They… They’re not from this world for sure! They need to be taken care of, or they might kill more of us!”

Indeed, they were too far now, but the two men still could see the tailed brothers running off to the nearest patch of woods to find shelter.

“Alright…” the armed man exclaimed out, now straightening himself. They gave each other a long, determined glance before they nodded. “If we had to call out for them, then we’ll do this.”

The armed man shut his eyes and raised a hand to the sky. He whispered few words before his eyes shot wide open and he let out a war cry, with two words out…

“ **MEGA FLARE!** ”

Still on the loose on the field, Kuja and Zidane heard the shout behind but they paid no heed. All they were thinking of was to escape to the nearby wood where their dragon companion waited, not bothered to look back.

How strange. As they thought the Humans had stopped pursuing them and they were about to slow their steps down, the clear blue sky above began to fade into a dark and cloudy veil, with the wind blowing into a strong gust. They could not tell why there was a sudden storm starting, but they must not worry about this now. With Mahila now visible on the horizon and ready to join the brothers, they were about to fly away.

Their meeting was cut short when the earth began to shake under their feet, causing Zidane to trip on the ground with a shriek. With the on-going earthquake, Zidane fell backward as soon as he got himself on his feet. Desperate, he crawled on all four, thinking it might help to stabilize himself, but the ground shook stronger and louder, prompting the boy to scream his brother’s name out of panic.

But Kuja barely heard the name. It was only when Mahila reached him that he realized Zidane was no longer by his sides. Dread spreading, he turned to see his little brother limping far from him on the ground, still calling him as he struggled to get on his feet. Ignoring their dragon companion as he could not think through rationally, Kuja rushed back to his brother.

The shaking ground turned into a blazing earthquake, causing both brothers to fall again. Before they could do anything, a large, deep crack on the ground elevated high, separating the brothers and spurring them into frenzy. Staggering on his feet, Kuja balanced himself backward and managed to stay upright without falling back. Quickly again, he looked to where Zidane was still fighting to stand and he was now too far from Kuja’s reach.

What was that? What was happening?!

As the storm and the earthquake gained in intensity, a deafening roar resounded from the ground, defying the rest of the surrounding sounds like it claimed victory.

Then a dark, giant winged dragon emerged from the soil with the same blaring roar.

Rising high in the sky, the gigantic dragon turned itself around, trying to spot the target it had been commanded to fight. It found nothing worthy but when its eyes were set on the tiny tailed child struggling on the ground, the dragon’s eyes lit with excitement.

When Zidane was finally back on his feet, he saw the giant dragon above, its mouth converging powers and energy in one point which will soon be ready to be unleashed. At first, fear filled the child’s eyes, but knowing the dragon’s attack will be unavoidable, he did the only thing he could do right now.

Zidane caught the two daggers he had stolen and he readied himself to attack the gigantic monster.

“NO!” Kuja screamed in despair. In the same instant, he tried reaching for the dragon with his most powerful Blizzaga spell, but his spell faded into nothingness like an invisible protective veil completely covered it from all kinds of attack.

No… What was this monster? How could such an invincible creature exist? It was going to kill Zidane!

With no other choice, the boy dashed forward screaming and he jumped toward the dragon, trying to reach it despite the high distance. His plan to attack was stopped when a bright, explosive blast was blown at full speed in a blaring sound force, completely hiding the child’s agonizing screams. Zidane was thrown back to the ground in a violent launch, bruised and injured at each part of his body.

As the blasting beam vanished, the weak, dying child began to whimper as all his limbs were incapable of moving as if they built up too much weight. Working to keep his lids up, Zidane struggled to draw his sight back at the dragon but he could only spot a dark flying blur before him. He wanted to turn his head around as he desperately coveted to find his brother who had disappeared, and Kuja was still nowhere to be seen.

Satisfied that the child was no longer moving, the giant dragon readied another blast from its mouth, ready to give him the final blow that will propel him into the cycle of souls for good as easily as Zidane had done with the Humans earlier.

His throat full of blood, Zidane coughed a weak last call. “K… Ku… Kuj… ja…”

His call was muted by another last blast from the dragon and the same bright light blinded him. Helpless, Zidane waited for his death in tears.

… Yet, the blast never hit him.

When he opened his eyes again, he could not make much of his blurred vision but he recognized the habitual soft fur below him and the strong breeze of being pulled to the air. This was a familiar and appeasing sensation of resting straight on his Silver Dragon friend's back while she soared high above, the voice of his older sibling soothing him with gentle, caring words. He felt the caresses on his hair and he soon experienced the relieving effects of the Curaga spell on his entire body.

Kuja and Mahila had come to pick Zidane before the giant dragon could hit him again.

A nervous Kuja kneeled over Zidane, trying to get him moving again, but the older brother discovered Zidane’s pain remained and his wounds were not going to be completely healed with simple magic. The injuries lied much deeper within his body and Curaga could only partly lift him from death.

With the brothers too far from reach, the giant dragon vanished in the air and the sky returned to its clear blue shade all of a sudden as if nothing had happened.

Was this dark, gigantic dragon a spirit from the underworld? Was it summoned to attack them?

And… what if it was that magic power Zidane feared from these Horned Humans…?

But the answers to these questions will wait. They were frivolous matters when there was something far more urgent to think about. “Zidane…?” Kuja’s soft, yet nervous voice called before he went to lower himself over his brother’s chest, searching for a heartbeat.

A heartbeat was felt inside but it was weak.

Raising his sight trying to get a look at his brother, Zidane was only able to see a fog before him. Yet, panic left him completely when he sensed the gentle brushes of Kuja’s slender fingers on his cheek. The pain had subdued thanks to Curaga, but each part of his insides was like torn muscles and broken bones. It was painful and unbearable, and it caused few sobs and whines out of his bloodied mouth.

“Hurt… Kuja…” he stuttered into whispers before he shut his eyes full of tears.

Unable to bear the visible pain on his little brother, Kuja could not look at him again. To ease the pain, Kuja hushed to him, laying his finger over Zidane’s pained face before he murmured an incantation with a mixture of Cure and Sleep. As the worry and pain on Zidane’s face shifted to peace, Kuja sighed in relief. Finally, Zidane might be okay for now, but he was in dire need of advanced medical help.

Big brother’s instincts kicking in, Kuja wrapped a weak, innocent sleeping Zidane in his arms, cradling him like the young infant he used to be. His fear present but slowly leaving, he hugged him tight, his worries over losing the only one he truly loved still here and fresh in mind.

“Don’t worry, Zidane… Don’t worry… You will be fully recovered soon…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With that much power coming from the Invincible, I’ve always wondered why Garland didn’t simply bother using it to destroy lives on Gaia instead of sending Angels of Death on the planet which takes 24 years to be effective. So, that’s why I decided that the Invincible in this fic needs to build up power for long years before becoming a destructor of things again.
> 
> “Mahila” means “Woman” in Indian, or something, according to Google. And weirdly enough, Kuja is apparently a girl’s name in Indian too, lol.
> 
> And yeah, I know Kuja’s design has everything sexually appealing on him, so maybe he does have a sexual drive sometimes. However, I always thought that since he was canonly created as an adult without complex emotions, well, he couldn’t develop that drive during adolescence or something, just like other Genomes. Other fans will probably not agree with me, but I guess that’s that for this PG13 story, haha.
> 
> Also, let’s say this AU Zidane has an innate Scan ability, which is why he can determine spiritual power levels, or rather, MP from characters, lol.
> 
> For the Kuja and Zidane's image, for the background, I got inspired by this pixel art (https://www.deviantart.com/forheksed/art/Forest-588078472). I'm usually awful at drawing backgrounds. :(


	7. Chapter 6: Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Short” chapter is short. As usual, thanks for kudos!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

Thanks goodness, Zidane was going to be fine now, Kuja assured himself.

With the technology found in this Terran hideout in the desert, while ancient compared to what was found in Bran Bal and Pandemonium, Kuja was able to place Zidane in one of these healing tanks. Even as an older technology, it was much faster than anything that could be found scattered across the archaic planet of Gaia. Kuja noted the progresses of his brother’s recovery, and with an estimate of another day, Zidane will be back anew as if nothing had happened. While Zidane remained unconscious inside the tank he bathed in, he should remember everything that had occurred earlier.

However, observing Zidane all weak and helpless inside the tank reminded him that, despite his subpar agility and strength compared to normal Gaians, he was still only a child.

That incident in Madain Sari should be something to be recalled for as it gave them more understandings about Gaia’s life. Thanks to it, while Zidane recovered, Kuja decided to make deeper researches on why that incident had happened.

He discovered that, despite having spied on the Dwarves and the Humans for years, he had never learned the concept of currency and larceny.

In fact, from what he remembered of the ancient Terran civilization, as Garland had put it, the notion of currency or money was inexistent. The Terrans used to live in a flawless utopia where there was no money involved at all for services and goods exchanges. Instead, each citizen had a certain role and talent to fill in a society, wherein these roles and talents were used to help each other in perfect harmony. Kuja read more into a book that money used to exist but the Terrans ditched the concept to avoid corruption among the civilization, which led to ultimate peace for them until their demise thanks to Terra’s dying crystal.

And then came the concept of larceny. The fact was already familiar to him. In fact, when he observed monsters and various animals living in the wildlife of Gaia, stealing preys and foods from others was an essential facet for survival. This was a natural aspect for creatures, whether they were part of the “thieves” or the “victims”, and all the wild beasts accepted it. It was a cruel life where the strong survived and the weak perished.

But that wildlife concept was no longer an acceptable element to the sentient beings like the Dwarves and the Humans, wherein they formed several societies and a civilization where, long ago, they had accepted to live in peace together. To keep up with this harmony, they had to abandon parts of their freedom, mainly by not stealing goods from the others and by not committing into killing their kinds unless necessary, like protecting their loved ones from a corrupted fellow.

But killing without a good reason, at least according to these sentient creatures, had its proper term.

Murder.

The concept of murder was intriguing. Kuja and Zidane had killed creatures before, but that was all it was to them, to kill things. In nature, herbivore and omnivore beasts feasted on plant matters, thus wounding and killing these inanimate living creatures in the process. Omnivore and carnivore creatures hunted and devoured all other types of living things capable of self-movement, whether they were preys or predators, thus killing to sustain themselves. All these killings were part of the natural aspect of Gaia’s wildlife.

But these killings weren’t murders because they were necessary.

Thus, this was where Kuja realized they had been committed to several greater crimes, all at once.

Shifting the term of killing these Humans in Madain Sari to murder was an interesting idea. Without the money needed for a fair exchange for the bitten pear to that man in the town, Zidane had committed larceny. However, by killing some of the Humans who were responsible to protect their town, they committed the worse crime of murder. From what Kuja gathered, because they perpetrated a smaller crime and because their victims were protecting the town from the Genome brothers, they both had no right to kill them, and thus, they committed murders.

Even back with the ancient Terrans, murder was one of the worst crimes one could execute, along with torture and lastly, rape, which was carrying out into sexual acts to another non-consenting partner, a notion that did not exist in the wildlife either.

Murder… When Kuja had murdered these Humans, he had found himself oddly satisfied like he experienced superiority over them. For his thirteen years of existence, having been Garland’s servant had taken a toll on his core, wherein his inferiority complexes would always lead his ways. Right now, he still was his master’s servant, being constantly monitored and contacted by him. However, whenever he realized he had the upper ground over these mere Gaians, the thrilling rush passing through with each kill offered him a delightful bliss. Killing creatures and even Humans proved his superiority over them, and for once, he was the one to lead.

Was this the same thrilling feeling Zidane sensed when he unleashed his feral tendencies on other creatures? Will Kuja get the same gratifying impression by initiating a war on this planet?

Perhaps.

Within few days, Kuja had learned more of Gaia than he did in few years. Being taught things and witnessing events really differed from experiencing these moments themselves. With that much acquired knowledge, the next encounters with Humans should go smoother. After all, to meet his goals, he had no choice but to interact with them again and more often.

Kuja learned another interesting fact about these Humans living in Madain Sari. Truly, he should stop calling them “Humans”, but “Summoners” instead. In fact, true Humans lacked a horn on their forehead.

As there were only Terran books in this palace which he could refer to, Kuja read that Terran Summoners used to exist on the old Terra. Even they possessed a horn that looked like the ones the Gaian Summoners carried. Summoners on both planets possessed the power to summon the Eidolons, the great legendary spirits of their home planet, to defeat their most powerful enemies. With that strange feature Garland had given him, Zidane had been able to tell that these special “Humans” possessed a grandiose spiritual energy. The Summoners, trying to dispose of the brothers, had summoned a great dragon. If the rest of their clan was capable of such feat, then they will be an enormous obstacle against Kuja’s goal to rule over the world.

With the Summoners blocking his path to victory and freedom, he will never be able to prove that Garland had been wrong about calling Kuja a failure and he will remain his servant, forever.

If only Kuja could possibly murder all the Summoners…

Was there a way to get rid of these Summoners, all of them? Even if he could start a war among them, there will still be individuals around powerful enough to dispose of the source of that hypothetical war, mainly the Genome brothers, as easily as they were so close to dispose of them earlier. That posed a great problem.

The Eidolons they summoned were great immortal beings, at least as long as their planet’s crystal thrived with the cycle of souls. Without the Summoners to call them, these spirits will come to naught.

Such powers… Was there a way to gain that power? Theoretically, if there were no Summoners left on Gaia, will the Eidolons live on? Surely, they couldn’t just rot as wandering legends for eternity, right? They will have to find new masters.

What if he could? If only he could rule using the power of these legendary Eidolons… Oh! How he coveted to see Garland’s fear! His master would despise him so much Kuja will only find satisfaction over this! That old android man will retract his affirmation of calling him a failure!

Speaking of the devil, if Garland had once met these ancient Terrans (after all, Garland had been created by them five thousand years ago), he certainly knew the extent of the Terran Summoners’ powers. Without that knowledge from the old man, Kuja faced with no choice but to request his master’s advice to defeat this huge obstacle to his goals. Using their connected minds, the young Genome asked his master what he should do.

Use the Invincible, Garland told him.

Right. These words were a puzzle to his ears, but as he quoted from one of his favorite Terran books, “every puzzle has an answer”. But Garland’s reminder made him realized that he had nearly forgotten that both him and his brother were given the ability to command the Invincible from distance with their telepathic minds. However, an Eidolon like that giant dragon could easily destroy their airship, if it ever came to that. From what he had witnessed, an Eidolon, being a spirit, appeared to be fully protected from any mortals’ attacks, whether they were of physical or magical nature. Then, what exactly could defeat them? Another Eidolon?

Kuja understood he will have to think through and develop his knowledge along so that one day, he will be able to start a war and get rid of these Summoners.

* * *

Months later, Kuja nearly gave up on finding a way to use the Invincible to destroy the Summoners.

Instead, his researches were drawn to another plan which he discovered while skimming into the grand library of their palace. Using the candles to rise himself on the top floor, he came to pick one of the books that had caught his attention recently, one teaching a forbidden magic the most powerful ancient Terran mages had used.

Ultima.

The name derived from the “ultimate magic attack” which could destroy anything in one go, something that only three Terran mages had achieved as far as this book had seen its first day of existence. Coincidently, it had been written by one of the three mages who had used the spell in a war against Summoners and their Eidolons, which had led her and her people to victory. Supposedly, Ultima was the only magic spell from mortals that could hurt the Eidolons.

Now, this was exactly what Kuja needed.

However, learning how to cast Ultima was not for the faint and the weak. One needed to be a very strong mage with a grandiose spiritual potential after having sharpened long years of experiences in magic and everything. Fourteen years of practice was barely anything, according to the book, and this was why Kuja swore to learn the spell as a backup plan. He might not be able to cast this magic now, but if his next years spent to forge his plans to overthrow Garland and rule the world ever went astray, then perhaps being able to use Ultima will save his face from failure.

Lately, he’d been so busy reading this book he had virtually forgotten about his brother crying for attention. Having now reached his sixth year, Zidane had alleviated himself from being the brat he used to be, but he was speaking more new words that sometimes irritated Kuja when he needed his time alone.

Curious on the book his brother read with a religious concern, Zidane tiptoed before Kuja, trying to get a peek at the book. “What you read?” the child asked. Even at six, Zidane still could not get rid of his habit of speaking broken sentences.

With a tired sigh, Kuja rolled his eyes before he offered him a grunt. “’The Ultimate Magic, Ultima’,” Kuja replied, intending to shoo Zidane away. “Now, leave me alone. I need all the focus to read it.”

“Why?” Zidane added. He appeared nowhere ready to leave despite his brother’s obvious hassle. For months, this single word “why” had become the young boy’s favorite reply, and Kuja hated it.

Putting the book away, Kuja gave Zidane his most upset, yet tranquil glare, which had not deterred Zidane away. “Do you really want to know?” Kuja twisted his words like he was mocking the boy, but the child didn’t care.

“Yes!” was his immediate response.

Exhausted by the boy’s curiosity, Kuja sighed again. “Fine, if you must know…” the young man breathed in before releasing his words. “Ultima is the ultimate magic spell that, if I am capable of casting it, will allow us to dispose of the Summoners for good and will free us from Garland. This spell of legend can destroy entire towns and even worlds. If I am able to use it, we will need no war and we will rule the worlds. I am unable to use it for now as I am going to need further trainings and experiences before I am even given the chance to cast it.”

From Zidane’s silence and his eyes blinking innocence, it was clear the child had not been following anything Kuja had just said. Of course, with his very short attention, Zidane found it too difficult to follow more than four or five consecutive words in one sentence. However, just like a child of six should, he responded with a nod like he wanted to show his big brother that he was a big boy, one who understood big words and longer sentences.

“Okay!” Zidane exclaimed, the grin forming on his face clearly showing that he did not grasp a thing. “I learn Ultima too?”

Unexpectedly, Kuja could not suppress a burst of laugh coming out of him, which had even scared Zidane. “Dear, dear little brother,” Kuja began, putting an odd emphasis on the word “little” as he teased the boy who was oblivious to the mocking tone he was using. “You do realize that an insane magic potential is needed to cast this magic attack. If you cannot cast a modest Fire spell, then you should simply forget about Ultima.”

Truth be told, Kuja recalled that Garland had told him once about Zidane’s potential for magic, which actually existed within the boy but, hypothetically speaking, it will never reach Kuja’s level. Kuja had attempted to teach the child’s some magic, but Zidane had the patience of a fish and he would give up fast on trying to cast magic after failing few times.

Still, a spiritual power potential was hidden deep within him. Perhaps one day, the boy will develop himself and will be capable of using spells. For now, he was a simple brat who was discovering his appeal with the art of using knives and daggers since he had used them against the Summoners’ encounter. After all, these weapons were small and light in weight, which were convenient assets for a child so small. They were easier to use and they certainly left a much less chaotic mess behind than with the use of fangs and claws when he killed something.

“I want Ultima!” Zidane cried with his biggest grin, not the least concerned by Kuja’s criticism. He even went to poke the book his brother held. “I want book, too?”

Shutting the book in a sudden clasp, Kuja sighed at Zidane again. “I thought you hated to read books,” the older brother commented, not even trying to look back at the boy. “This book is clearly not aimed at children like you.”

“I want book too!” the boy insisted and he continued to poke at it.

Growling at him in infuriation, Kuja stood back in silence and went to pick another book in the bookshelf before he returned to Zidane. Eyes widening in surprise, the boy stared at the book and discovered it was a copy of the same book Kuja had been reading.

After thanking Kuja, the boy picked the book and rushed to their bedroom, where he excitedly skimmed into each page like he was trying to find specific features inside. The disappointment came quick when he realized there was nothing in the pages but letters and some boring pictures. He pouted, feeling betrayed by his older brother who had never told him about the lack of drawings inside this Ultima book.

Bored out of his mind, Zidane kept the book inside his drawers and went to pick up a pen and ink to begin drawing on blank papers.

Kuja came back to their room later that day, only to find Zidane sleeping on the table with multiple drawings across. The young man was about to pick up the child and put him on his bed until a particular drawing caught his curious eyes. While Zidane was a particularly decent artist for his age, this one appeared too surreal for Kuja’s taste.

On the drawing, Kuja and Zidane were casting Ultima on mushroom-like structures.

Kuja couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

Whenever they returned to Madain Sari for observation, Zidane did everything to stay by Kuja’s sides, afraid to commit the same mistake as making one of the Summoners angry. With new cloaks to pass as Summoners among them, no one suspected them to be the tailed intruders that killed their kinds before. However, the brothers never interacted with the Summoners by fear one or two might recognize them. Yet, despite all, thanks to his talent for stealth, Zidane managed to execute more than few smaller crimes of thievery where he stole fruits and even more daggers to add to his arsenal. Over time, using daggers and knives remained his preferred method of killing.

But even after months, they still could not think how they will get rid of the Summoners efficiently without risking to shed their own blood or get the Invincible destroyed by the powerful legends. If more Eidolons were to be summoned against them, they might not get as lucky as last time.

Today had been the same without any visible change or new findings. After their day spying on the Summoners, they returned to the nearest wood where they discovered their Silver Dragon injured. They did not know what happened to her, but she could not fly well. Kuja rushed to heal her with a Curaga spell which relieved her of the injuries but not the internal pain. The young man judged it was not wise to ride her home in her state.

Unfortunately, they had to set a camp for the night until Mahila got better. She needed rest, and so did the brothers. Using one of their old Moogle tents, the Genomes lied on the hard ground where Kuja scarcely found slumber. Unable to sleep as well, Zidane insisted that Mahila needed his protection while she rested out of the tent. He dashed outside to the dragon instead where he leaned his back against her body and found torpor before he could even attempt to protect her. Pleased to see the boy by her side, the dragon covered him with the feathers of her wing, keeping him warm in this cold world.

Kuja was almost tempted to admit the scene to be adorable. Zidane was such a fearless child that he had no care to expose himself to the dangers of the wildlife to protect his loved ones. The young man will have to be vigilant about his brother’s careless moves as anything might kill him.

But today, Kuja refused to sleep outside. It was something he did not miss from his old times on Gaia alone before he got to meet Zidane. No, Kuja was going to slumber in the tent alone, and not even the hard ground will shake off that final decision.

Yet, he hadn’t spent an hour in his sleep that something roused him away from his dreams. Flicking his lids to make out his surrounding, as he let the consciousness overtake him, he caught himself in shock to see a freaked Zidane shaking him and calling his name repetitively. From the opening of the tent, Kuja saw a bright red and orange light flickering with a continuous, blazing deep sound with lighter noises of crackles and wind flutters.

Then he smelled the pungent odor of smoke and he felt the hot burning air.

“Fire! Fire!” Zidane yelled as he continued to shake Kuja.

When they both rushed out of the tent, they were faced with a gigantic forest ablaze with killing flames spreading faster than they could run. If they remained here on foot, the Genome brothers will not even be able to outrun this fatal catastrophe, even with water magic. As much as panic was set on their dragon, Mahila waited for her two Genome companions to ride her, which they promptly did to save their skins. Thankfully, she appeared recovered enough to be allowed to fly again.

As Mahila soared to the night sky, the brothers witnessed the spreading destruction of the forest by the catastrophic wildfire from above. That deadly natural disaster would have killed them if it wasn’t for Zidane’s fast response to the fire. They spotted a flock of birds and miscellaneous flying creatures escaping the raging flames by the aerial path, but the smoke and the spreading burning air suffocated some of them, bringing them back to the ground where they met their demise. More ground animals and monsters tried outrunning the racing fire, but the slower ones were engulfed by the flames in their painful death. If the fire wasn’t going to kill most of them, the suffocating scent of sizzling fleshes and woods choked the rest to their slow end.

This wildfire brought death that even the most powerful monsters could not overcome. This was a natural tragedy at its finest.

… Finally.

How that fire had been started was not important. It could have been anything, whether someone in the forest had played with fire, whether a magic monster had casted a Fire spell at the wrong place and time. No, what mattered right now was that Kuja had uncovered a solution to the Summoners’ issue. If the brothers could not fight them without risking their own lives, there was at least one way to murder them all at once.

“ ** _Master Garland, we need you to give the Invincible a small modification for us,_** ” Kuja requested the old man with their connected minds. With this, a smile crawled to his lips.

…

And what a marvelous performance they got to watch, a month later.

All safe in the sky from the disaster below, Kuja and Zidane got the best seats on their dragon friend’s back, watching the spectacle of a whole town ablaze. They listened to the choir of suffering screams like an orchestra of despair and a symphony of death. With the vengeful eye of the Invincible watching over the destructive storm that was transforming Madain Sari into a forgetful ruin in blazes, Kuja admired the fruits of his efforts. That murderous storm and spreading flames that were killing the town were all the products of their Terran airship Kuja was controlling, making it appear like a natural disaster. He made it look like a given punishment by the planet set to the Summoners for having dared to hurt his young and innocent brother.

Unable to take his eyes away from the mighty flames, Zidane grinned wider as he spotted the same dragon Eidolon that had tried to kill him aimlessly wandering in the sky above the town, helpless. What could the dragon do to save its masters anyway? Bring more destruction to it? More Eidolons wandered around the town, struggling to find a way to save it, but even that Eidolon looking like a blue giant woman could not stop the fire from spreading with her ice powers. Not even Eidolons could go against a “natural” calamity of mass destruction.

When Kuja noticed the few folks escaping their town on tiny boats below them, he giggled at their demise as the raging ocean devoured each of them one by one with gigantic waves. It was like watching a colony of ants exposed to the air to avoid the flood of a violent rain, only to find themselves drowned into an unconquerable torrent.

Kuja might have used a tremendous amount of the Invincible’s energy to cause this natural disaster to wipe Gaia out of the Summoners’ existence. Because of this, he will not be able to use the same power for many long years, perhaps in another decade, according to Garland.

But this spectacle of death was worth all the money on Gaia. They truly were Angels of Death.

Murder was a fun concept, but strangely enough, revenge was an even more satisfying idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I first thought if I should include Sarah/Garnet in a way or another in Madain Sari, but this had been done often in other fanfictions. Sorry, no Zidane meeting a kiddy Sarah/Garnet!
> 
> In the game, Garland apparently feared the Summoners for some while, so he ordered Kuja to destroy them with the Invincible. I thought this was kind of illogical seeing Garland could have destroyed them with the Invincible long ago, if he was aware of their existence. Hence, why in this fic, he didn’t know their powers until that incident with the siblings.
> 
> The “Every puzzle has an answer” quote is inspired by one of my favorite gaming series, Professor Layton.


	8. Chapter 7: Influence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things should get more interesting now, I hope. Once again, thanks for all the comments and kudos!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

Just for the fun of it, Kuja redirected the Invincible above Conde Petie. The fearful eye under the airship glared straight to the Dwarves who were set into panic upon seeing it in the sky. The Genome commanded it to prompt the same storm that had decimated the Summoners, but nothing came out of it. The giant red eye induced more fear than harm among the Dwarves. Kuja wished Garland had been wrong about the Invincible taking years and even decades to recover its destructive power, but unfortunately, the old man was right.

How could such a technological wonder take so much time to recover?

Well, a war, then.

They had been observing every nook and cranny on this bare continent. With the opportunity of a Zidane growing up to his seventh year now and speaking and holding up to longer conversations, Kuja judged it was time to visit the other continents of Gaia. Trusting the old hologram map given by Garland and deducing the trajectory of the migratory birds, his best bet was to head South to the other side of the vast ocean to find new civilizations. According to Soulcage, this was where most of the roots of the Iifa Tree headed to spread the byproduct of the soul flow called the Mist. If the birds made their way to that continent, then surely, that area should be bursting with life. This meant more chance to meet these true Humans who led on the planet.

With both being more familiar with the basis of Gaian culture, Kuja was now confident enough with his social skills to get closer to its planet’s sentient inhabitants. This was the only way to gain trust from them.

Things should get more interesting, hypothetically, with more Gaians around them.

Unfortunately, Kuja was not sure if their dragon companion could cross the ocean without resting. Thankfully, she had been trained for long flights and soaring above the ocean should be a breeze with few stops. Nevertheless, Kuja would rather be prepared with various supplies to sustain themselves as he had no idea what awaited them on the new continent and how long their trip will last. His supply consisted of dried meat and fruits, few potions and ethers. Of course, Zidane could not leave without these two new shiny daggers he had just discovered in the Desert Palace. These weapons should be convenient since Zidane had become a dagger prodigy fast.

Surprisingly, their trip only ended on their second day after resting on one of the tiny islands of an archipelago for one night. That day, as soon as they saw a wide land and a mountain chain, they knew their destination was near. For the first time, they were able to get a glimpse of the spreading Mist in a mass quantity to the point it appeared like a thick poisonous fog. However, thanks to their Genome nature, neither Kuja nor Zidane were affected by the corrupting and hardening effects the Mist had on the Gaians’ minds over time. From the ground, they noticed the Iifa Tree roots scattered around at random spots, though without proper knowledge, it was quite difficult to distinguish the Terran tree’s roots from a regular giant tree. Certainly, no Gaians suspected these roots to be the cause of the Mist or to take their origin from another far-away continent.

Unfortunately, with the Mist floating around, the ground level of this continent was bare of sentient lives. Only few monsters and animals could survive without going insane from too much Mist absorption. This was not so different from the wildlife they found on the Outer Continent. The ground level of this new continent was of no interest.

However, on the higher grounds of the continent where the Mist was too scarce to represent a threat to the Gaians, life was spread with so much greenery and living things. This looked nothing like the rare forest’s spots on the Outer Continent. The woods were filled with a rich wildlife and infinite amount of edible vegetation, the plains where bursting with vivid vegetation and smaller animals, and more interestingly, towns and cities were established everywhere. When Zidane seemed more interested into finding new fresh preys and sweet fruits to devour in the wilderness, Kuja sought to meet these true Humans Garland had spoken of back on Terra.

But meeting with them exposed the brothers to danger. Kuja dreaded that another incident like the one with the Summoners could happen with Zidane again, if the boy was not careful enough. As they were both oblivious to many Gaian customs, Zidane might still be, in some way, an innocent brat who could act like an annoying devil to the Humans at anytime. He could commit into more crimes that were unknown to the Genomes but obvious to a Gaian.

Before they settled for a new place to call home on this continent, the brothers spent the next month visiting each village, town and city. They were making sure there was no dislike of foreigners among their citizens by the fear their tails might strike more fear into the minds of the people as with the Summoners of Madain Sari. However, they realized their extended appendage might not bring that much attention from the Gaians when there were so many diverse sentient creatures roaming in this new world. Aside from Humans, those ones looking like Genomes without a tail that made up most of the inhabitants, there were other creatures walking and communicating among them. These anthropomorphic personages with humanoid bodies bore physical features of animals, mainly their heads, limbs and skins. They were just as any walking animals that were parts of the civilization and that were equal to Humans. As they were part of humanity as well, Kuja decided to call them Anthropomorphs, a term which was shared between him and Zidane.

Still, Humans dominated this planet, and with such a rich diversity on the continent, two “Humans with a tail” might not be looking so abnormal after all, even when most of these anthropomorphic creatures sported no tails.

They began their trip to the beautiful country of Alexandria and its capital of the same name, where a rustic, yet gigantic and majestic castle with a giant sealed sword stood erect over a big town filled with excited lives. Around the town, the rich landscape provided them infinite number of crops and food. In the same kingdom, bathed in the eternal night, the city of Treno hosted entertainment and excitement to both noble and poor ones of this land.

Then they stopped to the country of the most powerful nation on the continent they now knew as the Mist Continent. This was where stood the gigantic city of Lindblum, where a peaceful regent ruled, despite its biggest military and its most technological advancements. According to Garland, this was where the technology of airships fueled by the Mist took birth, which caused the peace to rise among people and wars to stop.

Then lastly, they visited the kingdom of Burmecia, the only land on the continent that was not led by Humans, but rather anthropomorphic rat-like people sworn by honor who held peaceful relations with the Humans and all others. Poured under eternal rain on the ground level of the Mist Continent, this was the only part of the lower lands where there was no Mist thanks to the constant rain. In this country also stood another gigantic tree surrounded by an unconquerable sand tornado sustained by magic from within.

Now that they had visited all these places, how to start a war? Kuja could not simply request the people to fight each other and then be good with it. He had to find a way that will involve all these three grand nations without the need to stain his own hands with the blood of so many.

Having a younger brother of seven who was now speaking more fluently than ever, here came the never-ending questions from a bratty child.

“What’s a war?” Zidane asked his brother who sighed at him. As they were stuck together sitting on Mahila’s back in the sky, Kuja knew he could not escape the questions this time. At this point, he better just played along.

“According to Garland, a war is when two nations or more fight each other because of conflicting beliefs and ideals, involving the people from each nation in a way or another.” Kuja tried keeping his explanation as simple as possible.

“What’s an ideal?”

“Hmm, it’s like a life goal.”

“Oh,” the boy added, lost and uninterested by the answer. “Why you want war?”

Despite his constant progresses with his speech, Zidane still spoke broken sentences at times.

“Because…” Kuja stopped for an instant, realizing that Zidane will not understand whether he kept his explanation simple or not. The boy’s attention span and even his short-term memory for these kinds of long informational sentences were shorter than the hairs of his tail. “That’s it! We are just following Garland’s orders!”

“So, we can murder?”

It’d been always intriguing, and even funny, to see this innocent-looking child who had taken the habit of using the word “murder" rather than “kill". To Zidane, “murder" was as casual as “tree” or “animal”. He must truly share that same curious passion as his older brother to watch things die. It must be an instinct that Garland had anchored in them as Angels of Death.

“No, we won’t kill,” Kuja said. “We will prompt the war, but we won’t kill. The others will.”

“Oh.”

That “Oh" sounded rather disappointed. Whenever Zidane said that word, Kuja knew the boy was not certain to understand anything. However, Kuja was pretty sure Zidane grasped at the “no kill" part. In these times of peace and observation, there had not been much actions going on in their lives. A monster kill or two might bring him back to a better mood.

“How we start war?” Zidane inquired.

“I… still do not know…” Kuja admitted, taking an embarrassed gulp.

“Why we not use Invincible again to murder?” The child’s face lit up at the idea he thought to be the brightest ever. How funny the boy was not aware that he could control the Invincible as well, but Kuja would rather not tell him how. Despite his memory worthy of a flea, Zidane remembered well each details of Madain Sari's destruction with the Invincible.

No wonder, its destruction was a sight of marvel.

“We cannot,” the young man told. “Remember what Master Garland said. It will take years to be recharged and restored.”

“Why?”

That was it! Zidane was doing this on purpose, he knew it! It had to be! His patience having left him, Kuja took a huge breath and put up his most infuriated expression. “Stop it!!! Spare me of your dumb questions!” Kuja yelled, and expectedly, a bratty, satisfied grin crawled up to Zidane’s happy face. Watching his big brother lose his temper over silly things amused him, as if Kuja’s impatience triggered his satisfaction. Perhaps this was Zidane’s rebellious phase or he saw this as a game which he always won.

As the researches had taught Kuja, one of the better bases on how to start a war was to amplify the corruption in the minds of the world’s leaders. Corruption had triggered several wars in the ancient Terra, and Kuja was certain this basis will work on Gaia as well. As all the grand nations were enjoying a lasting peace, he had to find a catalyst, a weak point in their souls.

But how exactly will he approach a leader? Unlike most of the citizens, the leaders were out of reach from the commoners, and from a cultural point of view, both Kuja and Zidane were deemed as lowest commoners. Leaders were guarded and protected by countless of underlings, making them near impossible to meet from their stance, at least in good terms.

His guts were telling him that the best place to start studying for a possibility to meet a leader was to make home to an area full of nobles, these wealthy, important people of higher ranks among the society. Treno, that city radiating under the eternal night, should be his best bet. Unfortunately, having to remain in the city for long had to force them to hide their dragon Mahila from the Gaians with the fear of causing a commotion among the citizens. However, since they had no place to call home yet in the town, both brothers would come back to the woods where their dragon hid for the nights to set up their fortune camp. And when they’ll find a home in Treno, Zidane reassured her he’ll come to visit her every day. Kuja had never been sure if the Silver Dragon actually understood their speeches and language, but Zidane seemed to understand her feelings.

From her instincts, perhaps she understood Zidane’s feelings too.

After a day walking around Treno, the first thing they made note was that no one truly paid attention to the brothers’ presence in town as they were only part of the crowd. Unlike the Summoners who did not seem to appreciate foreigners, the Gaians here were more akin to the Dwarves who did not mind having outsiders roaming around with so many diverse sentient creatures walking among everyone. However, unlike the Dwarves who loved meeting new people, the Gaians here, Humans and Anthropomorphs alike, did not care of newcomers and they ignored the Genomes.

That was until they noticed their tails.

Even with such diversity among Gaians, there was something that all Humans and the Anthropomorphs lacked, and that was a tail. With the only exception of Burmecians who lived together as another nation, no other sentient races part of the humanity on Gaia actually sported a tail. Having the presence of two Humans with a furred tail had spurred few curious eyes on them. Sometimes when the brothers were looked at for their appendages, they might received negative feedbacks from the most talkative ones, whether the commenters were nobles or poor people living in the slums.

Seeing no one willing to cooperate with them, Zidane took the bad habit of responding to all with a hateful growl which usually scared away the others. Kuja had to teach him to calm down each time. Still, as most people chose to ignore them despite their tails, they were able to observe the ways of the nobles and the others without having to hide or cause a ruckus, which was a convenience for them.

And it was during these observations on nobles that Kuja learned what type of attires they liked to wear, and thus, he came with the idea to wear noble outfits. For years, the brothers had been wearing these cloaks on the Outer Continent or these simple garbs from Terra. Kuja’s tailoring skills should come in a good use, but creating entire new outfits without the proper materials was beyond his reach right now. Because of their lack of sewing and tailoring equipment, Zidane’s thievery skills came in handy when he was able to steal two complete outfits for them. Unfortunately, these clothes bore no holes where they could fit their tails, so Kuja had to tear a hole into their pants. He then used a sewing kit that Zidane had stolen to make sure these holes won’t be torn apart from the continuous movement of their appendage.

Finally, after few days, each wore a proper attire that might draw the nobles’ attention on them on a more positive means.

However, that did not completely go as expected. Now, they looked like normal nobles that no one knew, so to the other nobles, they were wealthy strangers of no importance. Even when they’d noticed the tails, they would turn away without a word.

If using noble attires did not work, then perhaps they needed wealth. How will they earn money fast, then?

Taking advantage of his little brother’s ability of thievery again, Kuja requested Zidane to steal money from the nobles. This was an easy task for him, but knowing nothing of the value of each monetary pieces, they discovered that each steal wasn’t worth that much. For a day, however, they got enough to spend some times in a café where they might hear more gossips from the wealthy ones of Alexandria.

That time spent in the café had been more or less fruitful. Two noblewomen began to squeal with delight at the discovery of this strange, unknown noble child with a tail, saying how adorable he looked. This was the first time Gaians ever found an appeal on their furred appendage and Zidane did not seem to like the attention he was getting. When the women noticed the older brother, they were swooned over his endearing, delicate appearance despite his tail on his rear. Unlike the child, Kuja was rather pleased with that attention and praise.

So, not all Gaians were truly alike as they would either hate, love or ignore them. This meant they will have to find specific targets to influence… And this was no easy task, especially when they knew no one here.

Zidane was getting more annoyed by the two women until they decided to buy cakes and sweets for the brothers. Now, food was something Zidane liked, and as soon as they offered him the food, the child gladly devoured them, much to Kuja’s shock.

Only at the eating part that the noblewomen began to manifest disgust and grimaces over the brothers. Watching Zidane eating the cakes like a mindless savage animal turned them away and they even felt offended. No noble should be eating like this, they told the brothers as they walked away with a snobby humph.

This was how Kuja discovered that their path to become part of the nobles will be harder than he had planned. Not only he will have to wear their attires and gain wealth, but he will have to act like them. While Kuja had always been more culturally refined than Zidane in everything, he was not certain how strict the nobles were with acting, speaking and even eating manners. Of course, Zidane’s way of eating might have gone a little too far from a noble’s point of view, but Kuja will have to do all he could to teach him how to eat slower and more delicately.

Zidane hated how he had to adapt himself to these wealthy Gaians.

Days followed, and all these times spent listening to others in the Treno cafés brought him few advantageous facts that might be useful to his goals.

To put it simple, should they get closer to a world’s leader, they must become known influential figures. To be influential to the world, they will need wealth, great ideas that will please the leaders and be noticed by them. Currently, they possessed none of them, but Kuja will find a way. All these things together will not guarantee to meet a leader, but they will surely push the chance to.

But gaining money and rising his wealth won’t be easy. Stealing money from the nobles was certainly not enough. People earned money by providing services in exchange for money, but even working hard will not be enough to rise among the nobles. They had to find something else more profitable.

Kuja and Zidane walked around, visiting all sorts of areas, and they discovered few work fields being more lucrative than others. But there was one part in town where they stumbled upon so many Gaians of all sort, most having attires that showed much of their skin bare. Kuja was not sure why, and Zidane decided to call these people wandering in this area dumb because the permanent night hovering over Treno caused the weather to be colder here. However, something about the people’s attires in these parts of the town attracted Kuja’s curiosity. Exhibiting their bodies as such seemed to appeal him as if he’d find himself endearing if he was to wear these kinds of clothes.

And when a passing older nobleman approached them and proposed to give Kuja a huge amount of money if he will spend the night at his home with him, Kuja seemed intrigued by the offer, especially with that much money involved. However, Kuja refused to leave Zidane alone outside and he requested that his younger brother accompanied him too. The man was surprised by the suggestion, but he was fine with the request. He responded something about getting “two beautiful tailed hookers for the price of one", which neither Kuja nor Zidane understood.

Everything went well when the brothers accompanied the man and his guards to his house. The home turned out to be more than a modest manor, nearly at the level of the Desert Palace, except much smaller and with pieces of arts and large rooms scattered everywhere. Instead of being allowed to observe the arts and everything else, the nobleman led them quick to what appeared to be a personal bedroom.

And this was when it went downhill, when the man shut the door behind him, enclosing both Kuja and Zidane with him in the room. The noble invited them to sit on his gigantic bed, which they did. Soon, the man began to caress Kuja’s slender cheeks, smiled at them and gently asked them to strip naked.

Not understanding the situation at all, Zidane began to take away his clothes by starting with his pants. Now Kuja finally grasped what truly was happening. He had seen this in Madain Sari before, though he had never paid any heed to it as it didn’t concern him nor his goals for world domination. He knew exactly what the man intended to do with them.

“ ** _Put back your clothes,_** ” Kuja ordered Zidane in their telepathic link. Astounded by the order, Zidane complied, and suddenly, rage waved over the nobleman.

They were going to leave without a word until the man called a guard, ordering the tailed brothers to stay and comply with his commands if they wished to earn the money. Kuja let him know that he was no longer interested with the money, but this did not discourage the man from stopping. The man gone mad, he threatened Kuja to keep Zidane as a slave after killing Kuja. Both brothers oddly calm, they did not retort until a guard caught Zidane by his collar.

Before the child did anything against the guard, the silver-haired young man raised a hand, whispering something the noble and his guards couldn’t understand, but Zidane heard Kuja in his mind.

“ ** _Zidane, get away from them, now._** ”

Zidane promptly moved away from the guard by kicking him in the stomach and he rejoined his brother. Without waiting for the Gaians to move, Kuja shouted, “Flare Star!”

A carnage, a burning house, no survivors and especially no criminals for this crime found; a twisted fate that brought satisfaction to the Genome brothers. They watched from afar as the nobleman’s mansion crumbled under the raging flames, wherein his roasted body will be part of the new ruin within the city and his disgusting soul will join the Mist.

The only regret Kuja came with this incident was that they should have stolen the man’s wealth before murdering and destroying the mansion. If they did, perhaps they would have acquired enough wealth to become true nobles.

Thanks to this strange experience, Kuja discovered the meaning behind the word “hooker" and the concept of prostitution. Even if this meant easy money by selling their bodies to provide body pleasure to another, Kuja refused to ruin his own body or his brother’s for the sake of money. They will never stoop that low for such puny things like riches. They were special Genomes. They were Angels of Death!

Funny, though. This was also how Zidane learned the concept of “modesty". While Kuja already possessed some level of it programmed into him, growing under his older brother’s care for his entire life didn’t help Zidane as the siblings had shown themselves bare a lot of times without shame.

Well, thanks to this, they had learned more of the Gaian culture.

It was during another daily stroll that they took interest into the widest structure of Treno. Standing over a clear crystal lake and opened to the public, the place welcomed a crowd from all countries. Kuja had taken notice of this place before, but he paid no attention. However, the bigger gathering grabbed his curiosity this time. Zidane had never been too keen of crowded area, which might be why they never put more interest into this place, but Kuja had learned that they must get used to being part of a crowd. Even if Zidane was to become a violent bratty kid again against all these Gaians, Kuja should always be available to control and appease him.

In this crowd, even with several tailed Burmecians present, Kuja and Zidane’s tails did not go unnoticed.

And this was what Kuja wanted; to be noticed.

Kuja was taught this stadium hosted a great card game competition the Gaians called Tetra Master. This might be the most popular game among the sentient creatures of this planet, whether they were collectors, competitors, casual players, noble people and poor folks alike; a game reuniting everyone as equal opponents wherever they came from. It was a game so huge and grandiose even the leaders of the world sometimes came to this card stadium to compete against the others.

Leaders of the world, right. Exactly who Kuja sought to meet.

But to meet a leader by competing, they must learn how to play this game, a game Kuja had never heard before. Surely, none of the books from their home in the desert ever mentioned the game anywhere, being a game created by the Gaians… Thankfully, the competition was free of charge. This stadium only served as a way to win bragging rights if one won through all the games, of course. Basic cards were provided to all new players to get a good start. From now on, Kuja decided that he and Zidane will learn how to play Tetra Master. If it’ll take years to meet with one leader, then that will be enough for Kuja’s plan to begin.

Sadly, the day had yet to come. However, the most unexpected occurred after their first weeks of games.

Kuja’s bratty younger brother, the one who he claimed to have a horrible attention span, had discovered his hidden talent for this card game. Zidane had become an expert in Tetra Master among the champions.

Kuja questioned Zidane’s talent for Tetra Master. For someone so young and so distracted, how did the child become such a fantastic player? Even Kuja himself, despite his preprogrammed genius mind, could not beat his brother in a simple card game. In all honesty, Kuja was only an average player, winning about half of his games. While Zidane had lost most of his games at first, he quickly rose in ranks the more he played. Months later, Zidane even came second in one of the biggest yearly competitions involving nobles from around the world, only beaten by a lady from Lindblum. Unfortunately, no leaders were involved in this competition, but Zidane’s feat had rarely been accomplished by a child so young before. Child geniuses did exist before him, but currently, he was the only boy to rank as one of them.

Thanks to Zidane’s newly found talent, people had begun to take interest into that tailed kid prodigy in Treno along with the tailed young man accompanying him all the time. People assumed Kuja to be his father, and when asked about it, Zidane tossed the comments away and corrected them by revealing that Kuja was actually his older brother. Since Zidane’s rising popularity among Tetra Master’s players and even beyond, Kuja and Zidane were soon known in the city as the famous Tailed Brothers.

Since then, rumors about them began to circulate among the citizens, some claiming that they were a hybrid of a human and a monkey. Another rumor that had yet to be confirmed was that they were outstanding magic users, which coincidentally was true for Kuja. Whether the rumors were of negative or positive natures, they amused Kuja.

Soon, outside this card stadium, nobles paid them riches just to try to take on the tailed kid, believing that a child could not defeat an adult in this card game. Unfortunately, Zidane won most of the games. Of course, he could not win all games, but most of the wins by the nobles were achieved by pure luck.

But one day, along their moments of games and times spent with competing against nobles, something was about to take another turn when a wealthy old Human lady invited them for a game to her home, above Treno’s most famous Auction House.

* * *

When Zidane and the old noble lady sat together around the golden table, ready to start their card game, Kuja took a stroll around the immense living room, checking upon the sumptuous décor with pleased eyes. As in many past nobles’ houses and mansions, there was a guard following Kuja wherever he walked. Kuja assumed this was a protective layer to avoid any thievery act or worse from any guest. Yet, having been the guests of so many noble houses recently, Kuja was used to the careful eyes the guards were giving him. Today was no different.

However, a voice in his mind brought him away from admiring the well-carved furniture he’d been looking at. “ ** _Kuja, she always smiles at me. I don’t like her._** ”

As if a silly joke was crossing his mind right now, Kuja chuckled, earning an odd blinking eye from the guard following him. The man questioned Kuja’s sanity for laughing suddenly in the middle of nothing. “ ** _Don’t worry. Just play along,_** ” Kuja told Zidane remotely, not the least worried.

“So…” the lady began, keeping up with her soft smile while adopting her most calming voice like she’d been tenderly caring for lost children. “Boy, you and your brother are known to all as the Tailed Brothers, but we have yet to learn of your name.” She put up her first card on the table and she gazed at the child with the warmest of the eyes. “Would you be so kind to introduce your name to me?”

Narrowing his brows in confusion, Zidane pouted at the request. He appeared rather uninterested and unimpressed by her. Hesitantly, he laid his first card on the table while he said, “Zidane.”

“Interesting, Zidane,” the old lady commented on the boy’s answer, amused by his lack of interest. Flicking through her deck of cards, she replaced each card carefully with her fingers, thinking of her next card move. “Don’t you have a surname? Certainly, Zidane is only your first name, right?”

Once again, Zidane became lost in daze at the question. Did Gaians really have the habit to be given two names? This was a strange concept which shut him into silence.

Knowing the child was not willing to give a proper answer, she still had not shifted from her calm stance. The lady put her second card, at the same time asking, “And would you like to introduce me to your brother’s name?”

It was only now Zidane noticed the lady’s second card had actually bested his first card. Stunned by his first lost, Zidane stuttered for an answer. “Huh… K-Kuja…” he said, not paying much attention to the rest of his deck and he pushed a random card at a random case.

“Kuja, that’s a sweet name,” she hushed as she put her third card, which, strangely enough, had not touched any other cards. “You know, I might be old and cranky, but I find him to be a very good-looking young man, like an angel from heaven.”

Kuja overheard their conversation and he pondered, lost in thoughts. He had heard the notion of heaven before, but he knew this was nothing but a tale to one with a privileged knowledge of the planets’ cycle. Heaven did sound like an appealing afterlife, but unfortunately, he was aware where death led a soul to.

Unexpectedly, the lady continued to praise on Kuja’s endearing appearance behind his back. “Yes, delicate-looking features, long soft hair, pale complexion… You know, Zidane, Kuja looks so much like my old best friend.”

Now, this was getting intriguing. This might be a useful knowledge, to Kuja, at least.

“B-Best friend?” Zidane asked, more disoriented and not paying much concern to anything anymore. As he put his third card, he just discovered it was devouring up most of the lady’s cards. The child was now leading the game, and joy rushed through him. “Yes!” he exclaimed with pumping fists up.

“Yes, a dear, beautiful young man, long ago…” the woman reminisced of her past, her caring calm turning into nostalgia when she seemingly lost herself in thoughts. However, her fourth card was placed with a certainty, away from the others cards like she was confident to win. “We were going to get married, but he had been killed in combat during the old war.”

“Oh, okay,” the boy said simply, unsure what kind of answer the old lady had expected from him. She was speaking of complex subjects and it was too much for him. He laid his fourth card, which won over two cards in a combo attack, but he couldn’t get himself to feel delighted about his current lead. “ ** _Kuja, help! She noisy!_** ” he begged his brother in their minds so he will continue this complicated conversation with the woman in his stead.

“This is a rather regrettable story.” Kuja finally came to the rescue, sparing Zidane of more speech. Now Zidane could focus on the rest of the game, except with what to expect, he wasn’t sure where his last card should be put on the board. He had lost so much focus over the lady’s blatant speaking that he no longer was certain to win this game. Kuja continued, “I apologize for your loss.”

“Oh, no, it is I who is sorry!” the lady kindly protested, turning to Kuja. “I am the one who’s been ranting about the past. It’s been so long. You both were probably not even born yet.” She threw her last card which appeared to be the most powerful one. That card stole away all of Zidane’s cards in a long chain of combos.

Blinking at his last card, Zidane confirmed that he had lost the game. Defeats were rare, but it always brought a disappointed pout over the boy’s lips. He let the last card fall over the rest to admit defeat.

But the woman had not let her smile go. She did not look happier or sadder of her win. She patted on the child’s head, saying, “Zidane, you should have won. Your cards were far superior than mine, but my advice is that you should never listen to your opponents’ ranting, whether they are sincere or not.” She then blushed with her next statement. “You know, I used to be a Tetra Master champion back in my younger years, but in these days, I am nothing but an old wealthy noble woman.”

This certainly was a special old lady. With everything she had told them so far, she seemed to be filled with experiences.

Exactly the kind of person Kuja pursued and needed.

If everything went well, he might be able to influence her enough to let her teach them everything they must know about Gaians.

“Milady, may I ask your name?” Kuja asked, this time, putting on the most charming of his soft smiles.

Flustering from Kuja’s words and mannerisms, the lady’s smile turned shy. “My name? People know me as Lady Queen, the owner of Treno's Auction House. Rare are the ones who know me by my true name. I am Josephine Tribal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To tell the truth, I really suck at Tetra Master. The fact that this mini-game is mandatory during mid-game is one of the reasons I will never attempt a speedrun of this game.
> 
> Yeah, I know the term Anthropomorph is dumb, but I realized FFIX features so many anthropomorphic characters that are somehow still “Humans” in the world of the game (well, except the Burmecians and the Qus). The oddest ones are Baku (looking so much like a furred pig / bat anthro) and Doctor Tot (big beak bird nose with lot of fur and claws). Even though they got these animalistic features, we still think of them as full Humans.
> 
> The Don Corneo scenes from FFVII kinda inspired me for the scene with the nobleman and the Genome brothers, so I’m imagining that nobleman to just look like him, lol.


	9. Chapter 8: King

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for all the comments!
> 
> So, apparently, the owner of the Auction House goes by the simple name of “King”, which might be Kuja himself in-game. Guess in this AU, it can be “Queen” instead.
> 
> There’s also a mention of homophobia in this chapter, but it’s from another character’s point of view. I’m in no way agreeing with that character and I do not endorse homophobia in any way.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

There was something strange about that meeting with Josephine Tribal.

The smile she would always display by their presence, as Zidane put it, was not the only fishy detail. That smile had more to it than meet the eyes. The old lady was not simply smiling at them out of a generic happiness, sadness or even madness. It was the type Kuja had only seen on his little brother so far, one sharing its care for the others. Josephine bore that same sweet smile like she was a loving mother or some sort of caregiver.

Well, she did tell about the loss of her lover from a long time ago, a young man who appeared to be the spitting image of Kuja, supposedly. The concept of marriage seemed to have taken such an importance on her that she still remembered her fiancé after all these long years, enough for her to be stuck with the thoughts of that deceased man. Unfortunately, the man she had proposed to was killed in a war.

The same kind of war Kuja planned to impose on Gaia. How ironic…

It was a challenge to make a conception on how one could never get over the death of someone from so long ago. The past was the past, and nothing could be changed. All events that had led everyone to where they were right now were the fruits and mistakes of their past. To Kuja, the only path to follow was to move forward, to try and forge their lives to reach a better end.

How dumb of Gaians to keep on with the memories of the dead and their own terrible pasts. It will only hurt them.

Yes, he recalled all these tortures Garland had shoved upon him for disobeying and nothing will wipe away these awful memories. However, he no longer gave them any concern now that they were out of Garland’s reach, at least physically. It was useless to dwell on his past and all he wished was to gain the ability to throw these memories away into some endless abyss.

Yet, it still hurt to think about the past.

For some reason, his thoughts drifted off until they were drawn on his bratty younger brother. Kuja will never forget about all these great times spent with him, wherein they were enjoying their lives together despite Garland’s constant monitoring. But these memories were still kept within him because Zidane was thriving in his life right now.

Yet… what if Zidane was lost too? This was a possibility among all the many millions life’s choices, just as Kuja had been near to lose him in Madain Sari when they had faced that powerful Eidolon dragon, more than a year ago. Having in mind Zidane’s fearless attitude when facing danger, that was an event that might occur at any time during his life. Despite that fateful event that nearly cost Zidane’s life, Kuja had never really imagined what should happen if his little brother was to be lost and then become part of the cycle of souls, again.

Or, if dying on Gaia meant that his soul will turn into a lost byproduct among the Mist…

Wait, how did his thoughts escalate to this? Kuja shouldn’t even be thinking about this! What should matter to him was the present, and nothing more. They were alive and they were planning a war, that was all.

So, that was it. The Gaians had the bad habit of recalling their bad memories, which in turn affected their lives in a way or another. It seemed remembering their loved ones, whether they were alive or dead, could either hurt or soothe them. He wasn’t sure what to think of that concept and how he will find this useful.

However, that finding about that deceased lover was certainly interesting.

That Lady Queen, the very wealthy owner of the Auction House, seemed to project an odd affinity with the brothers. Despite having won the Tetra Master game against Zidane, she paid them for coming to play with her, unlike the other nobles who would refuse to pay if they claimed their victories against the kid. During the course of the same week, she invited them again to try taking on the prodigy. Yet, following her advice from the last game, Zidane paid no heed to her attempts at speaking, refusing to lose focus again. This time, Zidane won the game, but he was quite shocked to see that the old lady was not concerned by her defeat. However, during the game, Kuja listened to her and he went further into the discussion. Lady Queen asked them few questions, mainly from which noble house they came from (they still wore noble’s attires, after all).

Of course, Kuja did all the answering to allow Zidane to concentrate on the game. Besides, Zidane was always lost listening to her. The young man couldn’t exactly tell her the truth of their origins, but he did tell her that they were no nobles and that they came from a prestigious palace on the Outer Continent. Few Gaians on the Mist Continent knew of that remote continent, but since there was no means to reach a dead continent, that geographical knowledge was simply lost over time to most Gaians. For now, Kuja and Zidane simply set up a camp in a nearby wood with a Moogle tent.

Outraged by the knowledge of the brothers sleeping in the wilderness, Lady Queen offered them a shelter for the night in the guest room, but Kuja declined the offer. After that incident with that obsessed, sex driven noble who had mistaken them for prostitutes a while ago, he could not trust her now. However, Kuja’s refusal didn’t deter Lady Queen from appreciating their presence and her caring stance toward them did not change. Keeping her motherly smile, she paid them for the game as promised and let them go.

Few days later, she invited them for a third game and, as expected, Zidane won again. However, this time, she requested them to stay for dinner. Whenever food was involved, Zidane was always too happy to join. After all, neither Zidane nor Kuja could cook. They had been used to all the disgusting synthetic food of Terra, plain roasted meat from their preys or simple fruits found in the Gaian wildlife, which were just enough to keep them sustained. Anything cooked by talented chefs of noble houses were quite the addition to their diet.

When they saw the food on the table, Zidane was so pleased he crouched over, his tail wagging contently left and right. He was about to jump on the great feast on the table, ready to devour all he could like a feral animal until Kuja intervened from within their connected minds. “ ** _Remember to use the utensils,_** ” he told his brother.

Frozen on the spot, Zidane eyed Kuja with a gulp, horrified by the idea of using useless tools to eat such amazing foods available to the open. If Kuja had not stopped him from reaching the food, the boy would have already shoved some down his throat. Calmly but awkwardly, Zidane sat on one of the chairs, taking the one just besides his brother. His hands slowly made their way toward a fork and a butter knife and the boy stared at them in confusion, unsure how he should even use them. Wanting an answer, he drew his eyes to Kuja who, despite his refined allure, was having a hard time trying to hold a fork appropriately.

Having lived isolated from Gaians for so long had taken a toll on them. As Kuja struggled to pick the food on his plate with his fork, Zidane laughed at him, now tempted to go with the easy path and use his own hands instead of these complicated eating utensils.

But unlike the other nobles who had observed the brothers eating, Lady Queen appeared rather amused by their lack of proper eating etiquette. “I can teach you how to use the utensils,” she began without having reached for the food once. Zidane glared at her, wondering why she still hadn’t touched the food in such hungry moment. “Perhaps the culture on the Outer Continent differs from the Mist Continent and that you don’t need them on the Outer Continent?”

Kuja was uncertain how to give an appropriate reply to the question, but Lady Queen’s suggestion made him grasp at a startling awareness. Both brothers lacked the manners and etiquettes needed to communicate properly with the other nobles, and thus possibly the leaders of the world too. If this old lady was willing to teach them everything to act as proper nobles, then it was all about convenience for them.

“I… suppose we can use some help,” Kuja responded with a polite chuckle. “You quite are right, Milady. We do not use utensils often at home. Perhaps you can teach Zidane some manners too.”

“For someone who comes from the outer world but not from a noble house, you speak like a gentleman,” Josephine complimented on Kuja before she went back to her flustered, eccentric attitude. “Oh! You both are so amusing and kind! If only I could have you as children of my own, I would rotten spoil you with everything! If I ever had boys with my fiancé, I’m sure they’d look as handsome and humble as you both!”

This was strange. The Genome brothers never had thought about the idea of having parents before. There had been some ancient period, somewhere vague in the depth of Kuja’s memories, where he had once considered Garland like a father figure. That past disgusted him as the hate he had for his master was now so anchored into his core that the simple thought of the old man horrified him. Now, to Kuja, he had merely been raised by his master once upon a time, and nothing more. And despite having been wholly raised by Kuja, Zidane did not see him as a father, but rather as an older brother as they were created by the same android creature.

Maybe the boy wouldn’t act so different now if Kuja had been his father.

Kuja did not know why, but all these family notions brought him some warmth.

“Nevertheless, I’m curious,” the lady began, still having not touched the food while Zidane had already begun eating most of his plate without paying attention. “How old are you? You both look too young to be sleeping outside in simple Moogle tents. The wilderness is dangerous outside this city and predators lurk around everywhere.”

There was no need to lie about Zidane’s age. Despite having been created as a one-year-old infant, his physical growth process went at a slightly slower rate than a normal Gaian Human. However, Kuja was made an adult from the start. If he’d tell anyone that he was a fifteen-year-old person, no one would believe him. He had to come up with something.

“This is a rather sudden question,” the young man commented, and Kuja could see the shine in the lady’s eyes leaving a little. Nonetheless, Kuja kept up with his usual charming smile. “I am twenty and Zidane is seven.”

“This is such a great age difference between two siblings,” Lady Queen admitted. “What of your parents? What had become of them?”

Well, he had to come up with another quick lie. “They both lost their lives shortly after Zidane’s birth. Our mother died when she gave birth to him.” This part earned some clueless glare from the child who had actually listened what Kuja had said, but he immediately went back to his food. Kuja will have to explain later that this was all a lie so they could pass as simple Gaians. “Our father was caught in a violent storm and taken away soon after. Zidane and I grew up together since then.”

“Oh… This is such a sad tragedy,” the woman expressed with a heartbroken pout over her lips. She even shed a tear to this generic made-up tale.

On their fourth meeting, Lady Queen surprised them with another dinner without involving any card game. Of course, with the success of their latest sumptuous dinner with the amazing food, they accepted to come. After Josephine and Kuja’s boring speech of everything, the most unexpected came out of their discussion.

“Kuja, Zidane, would you like to be part of the Tribal House?”

Learning of Josephine’s past love had been more than fruitful. He had been charming the lady more than enough with praises and beautiful words. The old woman had been too kind with them, always offering them the smile they had never gotten from their creator, teaching them nobles' ways and offering them shelter, which the brothers had always refused so far. She was all the opposite of what they knew of Garland, like a true, caring mother.

If only they had experienced a normal Gaian life with a caring parent or two, everything might have led them to a completely different path. Perhaps right now, they wouldn’t even be trying to conceive a war to bring death upon the world.

If only…

Yet, this might be too late to save them from their Angels of Death madness.

The request had to be expected which Kuja saw as the most convenient asset for his plan to meet a leader. However, he hadn’t expected it to come so soon. No matter, the timing could not be more perfect and this might propel them to their goal to be free and to rule the world faster than ever.

“Huh… what?” Zidane questioned the woman's request, not even sure how this was entitled to him.

“My, this is a rather… unexpected turn of the tide,” Kuja said, acting like he was shocked. “Do you mean you want us to work for you?”

“No, no, of course!” Lady Queen insisted, trying to keep her dignified posture and blocking part of her enthusiasm. “I mean… if you want… You both grew up without any parents, and… I want you to… be part of my family…” The breathing slowing down, she had to take a greater inhalation to avoid choking. “I’ll make you comfortable at home, I’ll teach you everything you’ll need to know to be a proper noble and… and…”

“You want to adopt us. Is that what you mean?” the young man said, softening his shock and giving her the softest of the gazes.

The woman blushed as she commented. “Adopting… I guess you could mean that…”

Coughing under his breath, Kuja lowered his gaze. This undecided act was everything but the truth. He could not tell her an answer right now as this will raise too much suspicion. He had to act humble and uncertain. “We’ll… have to think about this,” he said, his smile slowly leaving but his soft side remained. “I cannot decide now. I will have to speak with Zidane first.”

The rest of the dinner went toward the awkward direction, with them discussing how being part of the Tribal family should be like and how they will become wealthy and noble. Her obsession with the brothers seemed to go a little too worrisome. Even when Kuja tried diverting the conversation to something else, the subject was always drawn back on how they will settle well in her family. It was clear her mind had been set from the start on having them as her own sons, even if there was no blood relation between them. All this felt unhealthy and strange, but Kuja knew he had to take advantage of that.

Well, as long as her obsession will not turn into something involving a need for sexual perversion, they will be fine. If it ever came to such vile things or if something was getting in their way, they will simply dispose on that. No Gaians could take on them, after all.

Behind everyone’s back, Kuja had already taken his decision. It was now time to explain Zidane what they were getting into.

* * *

And this was how the Genome brothers became nobles of Treno.

It took about a week for Zidane to fully grasp the concept of family. It was an idea that had already been familiar to him thanks to the sibling love he shared with Kuja, despite not being related by blood, technically speaking. He never had any thought of an extended family beyond having a brother. This was a difficult task picturing a family with children, parents, grandparents and beyond when Genomes such as them were artificially created and not naturally born from two parents. Even his Genome family in which Garland called them all siblings altogether was long forgotten by the child who barely recalled his time on Terra anymore.

Because they were part of Josephine Tribal’s noble house, they adopted her surname. They were now known in Treno as Kuja Tribal and Zidane Tribal. Josephine Tribal had become a new “mother figure”, though none of the brothers called her a mother, at least not yet.

Both brothers adapted quite well in their new lives as nobles, though Zidane’s ill-mannered ways gave Lady Queen some troubles at first. The bratty boy thought life under the Tribal house was boring, with receiving knowledge from a personal tutor and learning how to act like a noble. Zidane would rather slip outside and explore the nearby woods alone. Once, his trip ended as far as to the Southern gate which was about an hour of run away from Treno's limits. No one was able to find him and everyone worried of Zidane’s disappearance except Kuja who reassured his new servants that his brother was going to be fine.

Oddly enough, whenever Zidane was lost, Kuja was the only one capable to find him. Of course, no one knew his secret on how they’d always find each other if one was to disappear in this strange, periodic game of hide-and-seek.

Another bizarre aspect was how the servants seemed to like Zidane’s carefree attitude which differed him greatly from most of the other noble children. Zidane didn’t particularly like to be around the servants, but he didn’t treat them any different from everyone else, whether they were nobles, poor folks or servants. To him, they were people, simple as that, and that was all that mattered to him. However, with time, Zidane learned to live around without paying attention to any of them until one would call him on behalf Lady Queen or Kuja to come for dinner, to take a bath or to partake boring lectures. At first, the boy would not listen, but after few scolding from Kuja, Zidane learned to listen to the servants with more respects than any normal nobles would offer them.

Over the first months, they were taught how to speak and act like a noble, which didn’t seem like a problem to Kuja who had a natural way of speech and mannerisms. It probably was something Garland had implemented in him during his creation. However, while Zidane learned to be tamer during the more convenient moments, he could not stand quiet for long. When they visited other nobles, when Kuja and Josephine would go on speeches forever, Zidane would slip out of the places and wander outside, even once having to fight two criminals intended on ridding him of his riches when they had noticed he was a noble child. Normally, Zidane would kill them out of defense and fun, but Kuja had advised he better just beat them to not cause any unnecessary ruckus. After long days, they were finally able to use proper utensils like true gentlemen, though Zidane sometimes skipped them by using his hands, much to Kuja’s despair. Lady Queen mocked that the boy will never find a girlfriend when he will grow up if he kept up with such manners, a comment that Zidane ignored because, as a child, finding a mate was the least of his worries.

As Zidane was still too young, Kuja was the only one who was taught how to foresee their Auction House for any counterfeit objects and the value of things as this will be the business they will eventually have to take over in their later lives. Thanks to this, Kuja learned more about monetary value, a fact that might be needed later.

Surprisingly, Kuja discovered a new hobby he shared with their new “mother” which involved fashion. Kuja had already drawn his interest in types of clothes before, but this time, both him and Lady Queen took their sweet time before their wardrobes, struggling to find their best outfits for the day. He began to force some attires upon Zidane who contested at first but then decided that Kuja was the better connoisseur in cloths, so everyday, he’d let Kuja choose outfits for him. Sometimes, Lady Queen and Kuja teamed up together to comb each other’s hair, even Zidane’s who would always pout and sulk in defeat whenever they combed his hair and tail. Obviously, Zidane had no care for appearance.

When he noticed few servants and Lady Queen taking time to apply makeup on their face, Kuja became intrigued. He had noticed people with makeup before, but he didn’t realize the idea could be applied on him to make himself more appealing. The first day Kuja tried to apply makeup on his visage was a disaster, but he was taught from another servant and Josephine how to properly make himself more beautiful with it.

Lady Queen had first been joyful to see Kuja’s excitement over fashion and appearance, but the joy was slowly turning sour when she realized that such passion for fashion and makeups was an attitude more akin to women. With Kuja’s seemingly lack of interest in women right now, their “mother” was worried that her new “son” might divert to another path she did not want for him. That fashion idea seemed to have gone too far when one day, Zidane began to call his big brother a girly girl, which did not bother Kuja at all, much to her shock.

Kuja couldn’t be into men, couldn’t he?

No, that was a thought to be tossed. Kuja seemed too perfect for this.

Thanks to Lady Queen’s experience with Tetra Master, Zidane got to learn more advices and new strategies. Kuja was taught more about the other noble houses and the royalty across the Mist Continent. All this knowledge will surely come in handy in time, sooner or later.

Soon, they weren’t simply known as the Tailed Brothers, but as full-fledged nobles of the Tribal House, one of the most prestigious houses of the entire Alexandrian country. For them having rose from nobodies to powerful nobles in such a short period triggered other rumors about them, mainly that they descended from powerful gods out of this world. No normal folks on Gaia should be able to accomplish such a feat.

According to the servants, the insertion of the brothers in the Tribal noble house seemed to have uplifted the mood of their Lady Queen. Kuja was told she used to be moody, always on the verge to mistreat her servants and even others in a way or another by threatening them with harassment, sometimes a salary cut or firing them when she was bored. This was something that Kuja could have never guessed, considering her sweet, motherly attitude with the brothers. She had only begun to change when her attention had been drawn to that tailed child prodigy in the card stadium and the intriguing tailed young man accompanying him.

It was only when Zidane once slipped into Lady Queen’s personal room that Kuja realized her reason for adopting both brothers into her house. The child spotted a grand painted portrait of a long black-haired young man with a refined feminine face. Zidane was startled by the portrait, thinking it was his own brother without the feather and the silver hair. When he saw the date of the painting, however, he realized this portrait had been commissioned long years before both were even born in this world.

So, it was true. This was the young man who had died in a war decades ago. Josephine Tribal truly loved the man of her past to the point she needed Kuja’s presence under her roof because he reminded her of her long-lost lover. It was no wonder the lady was being all sweeter with Kuja and stricter with Zidane.

Having this in mind, for a while, Kuja thought their relation with Lady Queen might become unhealthy.

Still, both brothers began to like this peace of life and they soon enjoyed their times under the Tribal house. The old thoughts of craving for companionship had begun to take a toll on Kuja who was suddenly reminded of the epoch when he had been clinging to his only family figure, Garland, even if there was no love and care between the two. The way Josephine looked at him had been so different than Garland had ever done to the point Kuja was overcome with confusion. Zidane took notice of the change in his brother and feared his softening side.

…

“ ** _Do not let him soften._** ”

Alarmed by the voice in his mind, Zidane shook his head.

Who told him that? That very deep voice… This was not Kuja, for sure.

Well, whatever.

…

But times changed too. As the brothers were now fully part of the Tribal’s everyday life, they were seen for granted. When the servants exhibited more joy with the presence of the Tailed Brothers, Josephine began to see them with another eye. No longer she was the center of attention. No longer people noticed her. No longer people were interested in her chattering.

And when she noticed that Kuja spent most of his free time reading books, she screamed after him and pretended that books will distract him too much from his duty to take over the Auction House. When she noticed Zidane going back and forth freely inside and outside of their mansion and when he started returning to his old bratty ways, she would scream at him to stop acting like a commoner. The first time she did, Zidane had been so close to tear her apart, forgetting about all the great things she had offered him in the past until Kuja told him to settle down.

Kuja hoped Josephine’s tantrum was only a temporary phase, but the servants feared she was going back to her old self, a personality the brothers despised. While this was better than anything Garland had ever been to Kuja, they hated to have an authority screaming nonsenses at them.

But his hopes to retrieve love from a Gaian were lost. The brothers were on their own now.

…

Yet, Kuja still needed Lady Queen’s wealth.

It had been so tough telling Zidane to not lose his temper when their mother figure went on a rage, when she screamed at them for whatever reason. They must continue to buy time, even if it took longer than expected, to build up their plan to become independent nobles. This will be the time when she will create a will lending everything to them as her sole heirs to the Tribal noble house.

But then, the unexpected came. The day Zidane rebutted against one of Josephine’s crises with Kuja standing behind his brother, she slapped the child hard on the face.

There was a long silence between them.

It was during that silence that the burning rage building from Kuja’s depth slowly rose up his throat and then his mind. There came back an old instinct of pure hatred, of treason, where all the great moments spent sharing care and fun with this woman were wiped out of his heart. This was a feeling that hadn’t thrived within ever since that meeting with that dragon Eidolon who had been so close to wipe his young sibling out of living existence. That same painful death was all that fucking Lady Queen deserved for hurting Zidane out of nowhere.

His fists were shaking with the need to strike back, whether it was with magic or his own knuckles, and yet…

No, he couldn’t give in. Zidane still maintained his quiet composure, and Kuja refused to stoop as low as to kill this woman out of revenge.

From the long silence and the cold glares she was being given, Lady Queen narrowed her gaze with a sudden remorse she had never felt with them before.

What had she done?

“I’m so sorry…!”

That was all she could say before she ran away crying.

…

They could easily get rid of her, which Zidane began to think about, but Kuja assured him they should remain nice and calm before her and treat her as their savior from saving them from becoming wanderers. This was all done so they will get hands on her immense fortune. Zidane hated to play the actor, but when he really put himself in, he was actually as talented as Kuja. After all, despite her quirks and split moods, Lady Queen still loved the brothers above all else, a love that had now turned one-sided. One of the older servants affirmed that strange unpredictable, split personality had begun the day since her fiancé had lost his life.

So, they’ll have to bear that old wicked personality of her.

Yet, not too long after, Kuja never expected that Lady Queen’s past tale to impact on the most unexpected person on Gaia, on the day he discovered Zidane sitting on his bed in their room, crying.

* * *

“Zidane…?”

“Huh? Kuja?”

Between his short words and his erratic breathing, sobs and tears emerged. The sight of his crying brother was a strange thing of the past as the last time the boy had ever cried like this dated from their stay on Terra. From the look of his reddened and hardened cheeks, Zidane might have been crying for some while. “What’s the matter?” Kuja asked, trying to adopt his most gentle tone, but obviously, he had never been good at displaying emotions. He kneeled himself to Zidane’s level and laid a hand to his cheek, stroking him to soothe him.

Relieved by the move, the child caught his hand and pulled his head to his palm. Looking straight into his brother’s eyes with his wide, tearful eyes, he asked, “Y-You going to die?”

“W-What?” the young man could only stutter. That question came to him as a surprise.

“If you die, I’ll be alone!”

There was such an odd despair in that voice. Kuja did not understand why and he was taken aback by the sudden rising tone. Left dumbfounded, the older sibling blinked at him for a moment, uncertain what had just happened. The question went so fast and abrupt that all he could think was what triggered that sudden fear into him. “Why do you say that?” Kuja asked, trying to keep his tone calm to not spur anymore panic from the kid.

While Zidane had never been good with words and especially long sentences, he fought to give his best explanation after taking a long breath. “Lady Queen… She… She have friend like you… when she young, r-right?”

Why bringing up the subject of that dead man from the grave? “Yes, she did,” Kuja said.

“And… t-that friend… die?”

“Yes.”

“And Lady Q-Queen become mad, huh? That what servant s-s-say!”

… Kuja was astounded. Did Zidane really think through all these levels of the lady’s descent to madness? For his entire life, he had expected his short attention for complex subjects could never go as far as to analyze emotions of others and see the consequences of these emotions….

_Experiencing a life with a soul from this age will allow him plenty of time to develop emotional growth over the next years._

_What? What about emotions?_

_Why bother? You will see for yourself why this Angel of Death is superior to you._

These words he wished he could have forgotten came to haunt him again. Even to this day, Kuja did not understand why Garland deemed Zidane as the perfect Angel of Death despite the boy’s obvious flaws… His attention troubles, his slow learning on how to speak properly and his emotive outbursts whenever Kuja or Mahila were involved… When Gaians saw in Kuja from the outset a perfect young man with the beauty of an angel and the speech of the nobles, all the Gaians perceived in Zidane was a bratty, restless child.

Were all these strange aspects sought from Garland, and thus why he was deeming Zidane as the superior Genome? Kuja could still not understand how these flaws made him superior. After all, after meeting with so many Gaians and using Josephine as his main Gaian reference, emotions truly were a bother and, in some occasions, a complete weakness. If Kuja will ever get hands on Lady Queen’s fortune one of these days, if he will ever manage to manipulate leaders of the world, that will be when he will succeed to abuse of their emotions, their main weaknesses.

Kuja could think through plans, much better than Zidane had ever achieved. Kuja had the social skill to manipulate people. Yes, the boy was still young, but he might not possess the mindset of a normal seven-year-old Gaian kid. He could even say he was a little behind them, but he couldn’t deny that Zidane’s emotions were developing faster as he grew, unlike his social skills.

With that much emotions, how was Zidane even better than him? How was Garland right? Was Zidane a success and Kuja a failure?

A shiver ran across his skin. He suddenly began to fear Garland’s old words.

“I-I don’t wanna be mad!” the child cried, now shaking his head to get these warm tears out of his cheeks and his eyes. Sinking his head deeper into Kuja’s palm, he yelled, “I don’t wanna see you die! Kuja! Don’t die!”

Kuja was not sure how he should approach Zidane’s outburst. The young man might be the sole parental figure the child ever had, but in all honesty, he had never been very good at reassuring him. Simply put, Kuja’s presence was the only thing that could appease the boy, but he knew words will be needed to soothe him in this dire moment.

Slowly shaking his head, he sighed and put his two hands on the boy’s shoulders, prompting the child to look back at him with remnants of sniffles and tears. “I’m not going to die,” he hushed to the boy.

“But you can die…” Zidane protested, sniffling one more time.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I will die one day.” Kuja felt the sudden tension through Zidane’s shoulders and his shaking tail. “Just as you and everyone else. Master Garland had explained this to us. One with a soul is a mortal. You’ve seen it yourself, when we… disposed of creatures.”

Unfortunately, the panic set out wilder on the boy who couldn’t stand still. “Kuja!” he cried after him again, gripping to his arms to seek more comfort. “I don’t want you to die! I’ll be alone!”

Dammit, that kid will never give up… “Foolish brat!” Kuja snarled at him, startled by his own rising temper. His brother’s emotional idiocy was beginning to tire him. “Why do you think I’m going to die?!”

“You just say so!” Zidane shouted back before another bawl surged. “Y-You say everyone will d-die! Means you too!”

The older brother sighed again. “Yes, but this won’t be now or soon,” he whispered, hoping his softer voice will calm him once more, and he was glad Zidane stopped shaking. “We both still have long years ahead. This will be so long that you will even forget we had this conversation. You won’t even think about it soon.”

Putting up his best familiar smile, Kuja gently brushed over Zidane’s cheeks again with his fingers, comforting the child until he was no longer sobbing. The tears crawled slowly, but the boy was now trusting his brother’s nice words. Attempting to give away a smile too, Zidane failed to exhibit a true one, but Kuja knew the child was now better. “Promise me… you don’t die…”

Slowly pulling his face closer to Zidane’s, Kuja hushed, “I cannot promise this, but I can promise this will not happen soon. We will grow older and older together until we will live our lives to their fullest. This, I promise.”

“Kuja…” the child called again, gently closing his lids. When he opened them, he put up a weak smile.

Without warning, Zidane bounced and caught Kuja by the neck with his tiny arms to give him the warmest of hugs. The older sibling chuckled from the sudden move before he, too, gently wrapped his arms around the boy, offering him some soft strokes on his back. With the relief rushing through both, the young child brushed his cheek over his brother’s shoulder, wanting to stay that way for a long, peaceful while. However, Kuja soon made it clear that they had to part ways by gently pulling him away, but Zidane still hung his arms to his shoulders. Tiptoeing, the young boy approached the man until their noses touched. They brushed their noses like a parent and child would, with their tails rolling around the other, living up to this bliss of experiencing this artificial, yet true life. That sibling fondness always soothed them, knowing they will always be together and never alone in their unfair purposes as Garland’s pawns, as long as the old man had his eyes set on them.

The child offered few joyful giggles, now certain that everyone he loved will get to live a long, long time despite everything that had led them to this day.

Life was so great.

“Kuja? Zidane?! Wut the hell are you doing?!”

That loud voice behind had taken them by surprise with Zidane suddenly launching and releasing himself away from his brother and Kuja bended backward from Zidane’s jump. They both turned to find the origin of the booming voice that had called them, only to find their noble mother guardian at the door of their room. From the obvious horror plastered on her face, mouth agape and eyes wide with a strange frown, Lady Queen must have been spying on them for some moment.

“Mmm…?” Kuja murmured, not concerned by her presence as he gently caught back Zidane by the shoulders. Yet, Zidane was breathing nervously from the shock of the lady’s presence. However, Kuja’s eyes were slightly wider in shock when he grasped at the reddened face of the woman who seemed to lack balance on her legs. When the pungent smell of alcohol reached to his nose, he knew the lady was not truly in the best of her shapes.

“Were… Were you ruu… rubbing on each other?” the old woman asked, not even bothering to find better words for it. She appeared distressed of what she had witnessed.

Wondering what ran through her mind, the older brother raised a puzzled eyebrow. Clueless, he answered, “We… were…? Why do you ask?”

“What?!” The shock on her face turned into a blend of disgust and anger as she burst her voice louder. The crimson color of her skin caused by the drinking turned even darker as she garbled her words. “But you’re brothers, siblings! How could you… ruuub each other like this?! This is… This is an outrageous act of homosexuality and incest! How the hell can you live with such sins?! You’re… You’re disappointing me greatly, Kuuuja Tribal and Zidane Tribal!!!”

Zidane despised that sudden annoying attitude from their guardian. He could not grasp on the gravity of her words and terms she had been using, causing him to be tangled into confusion and fury. His old instincts resurfaced when he began to growl at her. Afraid to see Zidane’s feral, murderous side again, Kuja caught him by the shoulders fast as to remind him to calm down which Zidane did, but the growls of his chattered teeth and trembling throat remained.

Kuja stood back, his strict, unemotional expression taking over, keeping Zidane under his grip and staring at Lady Queen with nothing but a frown. Keeping his cool voice to handle this situation, he started, “Milady, how can you make such claims? I fail to see why you call this an act of homosexuality and incest. There is no sexual drive involved. We were merely displaying brotherly bond to each other. Have you observed the creatures of Gaia? This is the most natural way for them to reassure the others.”

As far-fetched as this had sounded, this had been nothing but the truth. Casted away from the Gaian civilizations most of their lives and knowing nothing else but the Gaian wildlife and the Terran soulless Genomes, by judging Josephine’s reaction, the brothers just realized some of their acquired habits were perceived differently by the sentient creatures. Yes, perhaps among the cultured Gaians, cuddling each other like Kuja and Zidane had done meant one thing, and this was not for displaying a sibling bond, for certain.

But these cultural differences were giving Kuja such a headache with so many conflicts in his knowledge on Gaians. Kuja had seen countless civilized mothers and fathers cuddling their children to soothe them or to maintain their family bond. This was a parental instinct, after all.

So then, why was their bonding act seen as a sin to this woman? Was this because Kuja was Zidane’s brother and not a father?

Kuja did not understand Josephine’s logic into seeing this as a derogative act, but he could not deny Lady Queen’s expression of disgust. He simply hoped this was the effect of the alcohol taking a toll on her, and yet…

“You speak as if we’re ‘creatures’ to the same level as feral animals!” Josephine screamed louder and wilder, like Kuja’s words hadn’t convinced her of anything. “I don’t want to see this disturbing act ever again! Am… Am I clear?!”

This was it. Unable to tame that upcoming instinct, Zidane was ready to launch himself at the woman to tear her apart, if only he hadn’t been stopped by Kuja. “Certainly, Milady,” the young man responded, still calm, but Zidane could feel Kuja’s rising anger when the man’s fingers stiffened with fury on his shoulders. “If you desire that we stop this act, we will. I apologize for our unorthodox manners that disturb you. We still have a lot to learn from you on wisdom and culture.”

“Atta boys! That’s what I want to hear!” Lady Queen commented with a sudden unhealthy joy coming back to her. At last, she left them alone, shutting the door in a loud clasp.

“ ** _Don’t worry about her,_** ” Kuja reassured his brother using their minds. “ ** _We can say whatever she wants to hear, but she cannot hear us in our connected minds._** ”

Zidane laughed.

Life was still great, after all.

* * *

Zidane had now reached the age of eight and Kuja was now a true adult himself at sixteen, which their guardian thought of mere twenty-one years old.

They spent their latest months enduring Josephine’s tantrums and personality splits. However, their long wait of holding on their murderous tendencies was worth everything. After nearly a year and half spending their days under the Tribal House, at last, Lady Queen finalized what Kuja had been desiring from the start.

An official written will lending her immense wealth to the Tailed Brothers, if she was to meet death.

This was it. It was time.

“ ** _Zidane, you will dispose of Josephine Tribal._** ”

The following week came with chaos and horror when random folks discovered Lady Queen in a nearby wood, her remains near unrecognizable from all the bite marks and exposed flesh scattered around her death bed in the wilderness. Among the bites of scavenger monsters and the traces of knives wounds on her body, the most obvious cut that had killed her was a nasty wide slice to the throat, where dried blood paint her entire upper body into a dark crimson.

A servant was able to confirm the decaying body’s identity from the jewelry found across the murder site. An envelope signed by one of the Auction House guards was discovered close by, where a written letter requesting her presence in the wood for a secret emergency meeting was pulled out. Since then, a certain tall, imposing red haired man became a wanted man across Treno and the whole Alexandria country for the murder of the infamous Lady Queen.

When a funeral was held for her, each servant gave the noblewoman’s inheritors a long glare, wherein both Kuja Tribal and Zidane Tribal stood in silence before Josephine’s coffin without any visible sadness. They even spotted a tiny smirk over the child’s lips.

From then, they knew the terrifying truth.

The Tailed Brothers had murdered Lady Queen for her wealth, all for Kuja to become the new “King” of the Tribal House.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve always wondered where Zidane got his “Tribal” last name, since Kuja doesn’t have any last name, so my guess is that he got it from someone. So, in the game, it’s probably Baku’s last name. Or I’ve read fics where Kuja’s last name was Tribal too. So, maybe all Genomes have that last name? Or maybe Kuja self-assigned that name because, at the end of the game, he wants to feel like he’s a true family to Zidane?
> 
> Zidane’s sudden fear to see Kuja die is based on a moment of my childhood when I realized what death truly was and that eventually everyone will die, including my loved ones. I cried about it for long hours, except that no one saw me so I cried alone. :(


	10. Chapter 9: Capture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe the brothers aren’t so bad. Also thanks again for all Kudos and comments!

Fear established among the servants of the Tribal House since the death of Lady Queen.

This certainly was not because of the cold demeanor of their new Lord King. This definitely was not because of the Lord’s little brother causing ruckus around which defined him as a free brat and an introvert, lonely boy.

No, rather, it was how awfully nice their new masters were with them. Assuming that they had killed Josephine, their generous and gentle demeanor with everyone arose a fear that their masters were more akin to psychotic murderers rather than spontaneous killers, making them unpredictable about their next targets. Neither this was no laughing matters when the Tailed Brothers were said to be a very powerful mage and a fighter who could easily take on any powerful wild monsters, a rumor born from travelers having witnessed them taking on random Grand Dragons. Perhaps they could even fight more than ten armed men without shedding their own blood. There were even rumors about them being all powerful gods descending from the sky to slowly destroy this town from within for all the corruption arising inside.

Usually, these silly tales were shared among the poorer classes of this town. Needless to say this time, even the other nobles were terrified of these new powerful, wealthy Tailed Brothers.

What if their murderous eyes were set on one of them?

Unfortunately, some of these rumors were known to be true. Kuja Tribal actually was a fearsome mage capable of high level magics beyond Gaian’s reach. Zidane Tribal, while still young, could slash through the most threatening creatures with his faithful daggers. When they were both bored out of their minds, they’d go to the weapon store to battle rare legendary monsters from unknown worlds the noble owning this store would capture and keep prisoner in the underground arena. Some beasts were told to be even stronger than the Grand Dragons, and the brothers would always come out of the battles victorious and barely injured, if ever. This rose the fear of the Tribal nobles among citizens in Treno.

However, along this fear to even dare to fight against the Tailed Brothers, there were some advantages of having them as the new Auction House masters.

On the contrary to their former boss Lady Queen, Kuja and Zidane were treating their servants quite well and they even raised their incomes. It was the point anyone working under the Tribal noble house no longer had to worry about their monetary issues. With that much wealth to spare in their hands, they even helped the poorest folks by providing them foods and offering money to help propel them as productive citizens of this city. The poor ones were getting their chances for a better life thanks to these new fearsome, yet generous nobles.

All this gave them the reputation of ones of the most respectable philanthropists to ever walk in Treno.

The Auction House became prosperous as ever under their watch, with new items on sale that could never be found anywhere on the Mist Continent, which drove the rumor of them coming from another world closer to the truth. Few people even pretended to have witnessed a huge and bright winged beast descending on the imposing Auction House manor roof few times with one of the brothers mounting it. What if that flying creature was their pet from the outer world and they went to fetch the rare items with that beast to unknown places?

And despite the increasing number of rumors about them and their growing reputation in the city, they still had not met any world leader.

Perhaps they weren’t working hard enough? At this point, was there a way to work harder to meet a leader? They did everything they could already!

Kuja could not tell if Garland was actually aware of their rising fame among the Gaians, but there was no way the old man could still claim him as a failure after everything Kuja had accomplished. All it took was nothing but manipulative lies and beautiful speeches over these puny Gaians. If Zidane had been alone in this purpose to save Terra, could the child even compete against this?

But this time, in a way, they had needed each other to get to where they were now. One Angel of Death could have not done this alone.

* * *

It was becoming a routine among the folks of Treno to see the younger of the Tailed Brothers wandering in the city and even outside alone. He explored the edge of the city plains or even the dangerous forests around the cave of that Qu person living alone. He ignored everyone on the way, whether they were Humans, Burmecians, Anthropomorphs, Qus, nobles or poor ones. The boy craved to find hidden treasures and battle monsters blocking his path when outside. The citizens concluded that inside this little boy hid a fearless adventurer and hero of another world stuck in the body of a child. Unlike the other kids and especially noble children, Zidane Tribal did not require protection. He was perfectly capable of defending himself, even going as far as fighting by himself a group of three bandits who had been trying to steal from the Auction House once.

Zidane was now familiar with his surrounding, knowing all names and faces of each servant under their house, recognizing the diverse faces in the city and even telling apart the wandering feral cats and dogs around. Despite all, he maintained a careful, doubtful eye at everything, meaning he never trusted anyone fully, except Kuja, of course. Unless he was being addressed directly, which very few people dared to, he rarely spoke to someone. He trusted his skill so he should not worry about the puny Gaians harming him, but he could never be too vigilant.

And speaking of strangers, as he ran outside the city where the sun light began to shine, he discovered a wagon pulled by a chocobo in the middle of nowhere with a lone Anthropomorph looking like a friendly Tapir in some merchant clothes. A merchant around seemed out of place, and yet, that little mouse springing along the long grasses appeared more of interest to chase after. When the merchant spotted the boy, he smiled and waved at him. “Hey, boy, I’ve got something for ya!”

At first, Zidane chose to ignore him as the escaping mouse on the grass was more intriguing and amusing to him. As the tailed child bounced around trying to catch the rodent like a bored kitty, the man called him once more. “Ya there! I heard ya like daggers, right?”

“Dagger” was a word that sparked the child’s curiosity. Zidane had no idea how the man was able to read him, but it was true; the boy loved anything about daggers and knives, from the way they could be held, the carved handles, the colors, their cutting blades and even their metallic scent. Abandoning the mouse he was pursuing, Zidane turned to the Tapir man with an attentive eye. Having caught the noble boy’s interest, the merchant widened his warm smile by showing him one odd sword with two knives on each side, the handle placed in the middle of the two blades. Noticing the marveled sparkles in the child’s eyes, the man chuckled.

“This’s a ‘thief sword’ type of blade,” the man said. “I’ve got some more in the wagon behind me. I can sell ya some for a fair price, so I’m ya interested, right, kid?”

Excited to add more of these convenient weapons to his arsenal, the child jumped inside the merchant wagon before a swarm of masked men surged out to jump at him together, each holding his tiny body under their much greater weight. Zidane was going to scream until one of them shoved a wet cloth to his mouth and nose, wherein the intense smell of sweet, cold air filled his nostril and his lids grew heavier by the seconds. The rest of his body slowed down until he could no longer move, and finally, he shut his eyes as his consciousness left him into a deep slumber.

* * *

“Lord King, don’t you think your brother has been away for a long time?”

Watching the activity raging in the Auction House from the balconies was a borefest as much as it sometimes was a fascinating play, to observe collectors and nobles fighting over frivolous objects of no use. With the long, disappointing inaction of the auctions today, Kuja was almost too glad that a servant came to interrupt him to speak of something else than business. “Hmm? What news do you bring me?” he asked the concerned servant, completely ignoring he had been told earlier.

“Lord Zidane has gone out of the mansion for some time since this morning and he has yet to show himself again. No one has found him in the city.”

Unable to contain a giggle, Kuja commented, “He’s a wild little brat. He can wander around for all I care. He will be back eventually. He can fend for himself and I trust his skills as a fighter.”

The servant gulped. “But he’s only seven-"

“Eight.”

The soft, yet twisted smile forming on the silver-haired noble brought the servant terror and shiver. After shaking his head to toss that fear out of him, the servant regained his composure. With a bow before walking away, he said, “I understand, Lord King. I will return to my duties. Please forgive me for my intrusion and concerns.”

With the worries walking away from him, Kuja returned to his duty to watch over the activities of the Auction House. With a sigh, he decided to reach out to his brother with their connected minds. Where had the boy gone this time? “ ** _Hey, Zidane. If you’re going to hide from me, give me a sign of life._** ”

No answer. This was to be expected from a bratty child. The young man helped himself with a laugh. His brother was probably playing tricks to scare him again. “ ** _Well, fine. If you want to play the brat, I’ll play the ignorant. It’s none of my concerns._** ”

There still was no answer, but there was no need to be worried. Kuja at most should be the one to know this; just as the rumors stated, Zidane was strong enough to protect himself from danger and fight everything. He will show himself soon enough.

* * *

“Oh, the kiddo’s waking up, finally.”

“Was about time! They’ve been so close to kill him with that much chloroform! He’s a tiny kid, dammit! We need him alive!”

Like each of his limbs were crushed by heavy weights, Zidane stirred away in slow movements from his painful torpor, one he could not remember getting into. His eyes opening to a world of blur and darkness, he pulled himself on his knees with his trembling arms and he shook his body before he struggled to move on a sitting position. After giving his sore eyes a good rub, he allowed them to get used to the darkness around before he tried to recognize the voices that had spoken during his slow awakening, though he could not make out what they were saying. His blurred vision spotted some candles on a table and two humanoid silhouettes who he assumed where the voices had come from.

When everything came to sharpness around him, the two silhouettes shifted into two male adult Humans, one who seemed to be about Kuja’s age in appearance and one who appeared middle-aged. Strangely, both wore a mask over their faces. However, the two men were the least of his worries. He realized he was not home. Instead, the two men were behind rusted bars, or rather, Zidane was the one trapped behind the metallic bars that reeked a nasty iron stench with a scent and feeling of humidity. He looked at his hands and legs to find his wrists and ankles prisoners of heavy cuffs linked to solid chains, which in turn were attached to the dark wall. The only light sources were two small flames on meager candles on a modest table behind the two strangers and a tiny sun ray piercing through some blocked small window.

Keeping his calm but his confused, innocent expression never changing, Zidane stared back at the two men, wondering what he had been doing in this dark, smelly place.

“So, you’re finally awake, Zidane Tribal,” the older man called the boy with an odd focus on his noble surname. The stranger lowered to his level with a mocking gesture to show that he had total control over him, though this had not intimidated the child. Not frightened by the man, Zidane retained his glare at him. “Now that you’ve our attention, I’ll explain the situation. You’re in our secret hideout, and we’ve just kidnapped you. You’re following so far?”

Kidnapped. Zidane recalled this term he heard few times before. This was a term he thought to never have to bother with, seeing his greater position as Terra’s angel along with his brother. However, he was aware of the term’s meaning and his now precarious situation. Being kidnapped meant that he was brought away by a person or several people far from home, far from his family, all against his will. Being kidnapped also meant he was being given a disadvantageous position in this strange shelter with no way to get control of his environment, with his kidnappers having the higher grounds over him.

Being kidnapped meant that if he was a normal Gaian child, he should be scared of his situation right now.

He was not scared, but he had to act like he was.

The passive and innocent expression on the child now shifted into fear and panic as Zidane began to shiver like a livestock without defense before his butcher. He crawled to a corner, avoiding the men’s stare and he crouched into a fetal position, his squinting eyes producing a set of crocodile tears the kidnappers couldn’t differ from true tears.

“We’ll only free you when Lord King will give us the ransom for your freedom!” the man continued, not concerned by the child’s terror. “Of course, that’s if he’s willing to give us the payment! It’s time to see if your darling brother truly loves you! If he doesn’t, well, we’ll be selling you to another noble! A tiny child with subpar agility, with long silky blond hair, that strange functioning tail and these mesmerizing turquoise eyes… A noble will pay a fortune to get their hands on such living chef-d’oeuvre as a slave! Just imagine his growth potential, when he’ll be a submissive young man!”

“Boss…”

“Oh, and maybe we can sell you to a ringleader! Oh, they’ll make you fight for money! How much are they willing to pay for a fighter like you?”

“Boss,” the other Human called his older partner again. This man seemed to be filled with uncertainty when his sight was drawn to the trembling child in the corner. “I don’t think all this’s a good idea. You just said it earlier. He’s just a kid and he doesn’t look that strong. Are you sure he can fight anyway?”

The older man who called himself “Boss” turned around to give his partner a glare. “You’ve heard the details of Lady Queen’s death? Everyone knows the kid’s the one who’s done this to her! It’s him or that girly big bro of his! This kid may be young and small, but folks have seen him killed huge monster and he can definitely murder things!”

“No!” Zidane yelped in fear, crying his despair. Perhaps he’d been a little overdramatic. He had to tone down his outbursts, returning to his crouching and trembling pose. He stuttered, “I-I didn’t do it… I-I w-wanna g-g-go home…!”

“You ain’t going home!” the boss screamed with a raging tap on the foot, prompting Zidane to shut himself with broadened orbits. He turned away from the crying boy, reaching for the door. The underling Human gave Zidane a somber gaze before he followed the boss and slowly shut the door, leaving the child alone.

From the moment the door was shut, Zidane stopped his act and grinned with a twisted frown. This silly act had been so efficient pride washed all over him for his acting success. However, he couldn’t do anything right now, but he made sure that Kuja will know of his whereabouts.

“ ** _Kuja?_** ”

“ ** _Zidane? Where have you gone this time?_** ”

“ ** _I don’t know. Kidnappers kidnap me. I’m in one dark room._** ”

Zidane felt the shock and worry in Kuja’s mind. “ ** _You’ve been kidnapped? How did this happen? I thought you were stronger than that._** ”

Lost in thoughts, Zidane tried remembering the events that had led him in this dump. Scratching his head, he said, “ ** _I think… they make me sleep. I wake up here after sleep._** ”

“ ** _Oh, right. I guess we’re not immune to forced sleep spells and medicine._** ” Zidane experienced the depth of thoughts from his brother. “ ** _Thankfully, since you’re up now, I know you’re okay. You need to tell me where you are._** ”

“ ** _I don’t know. I’m in dark room. Closed window, I can’t see outside._** ”

“ ** _Well, in that case, you should simply kill your assailants and come back home._** ”

“ ** _Can’t do that, Kuja. I have chains to my arms and legs. Can’t go far!_** ”

Kuja should have expected this, but he didn’t think the kidnappers could have gone that far as to put a puny little child under chains. No normal child should have to wear them when they would not be able to move much with these. This situation was becoming worrisome but this was the weirdest part of it.

Kuja did not detect distress in Zidane. Was he faring alright?

“ ** _Why did they kidnap you?_** ” Kuja inquired.

“ ** _Hmm, they say ransom and payment, or something. What’s a ransom?_** ”

“ ** _A ransom?_** ” This time, the fears left the young man who stifled a sneer on place, though Zidane could not hear it. “ ** _Now this is getting rather interesting. A ransom is when one offers any kind of payment or things in exchange of someone’s life from enemies. This means your kidnappers will ask me part of our fortune to get you freed. Whether they will follow up with the exchange will be up to them, but I know I am a man of words._** ”

Kuja sensed Zidane’s confusion over his long explanation, but this was to be expected from a boy of short attention. “ ** _You and I will no longer have to worry about it,_** ” the young man shared with a laugh. “ ** _They will keep you alive if they want a ransom. This means I will soon receive a message about your capture, and then a note of what they wish in exchange for you. Since you cannot escape and you don’t know where you are, I beg you to be careful until I can come to get you back. I don’t know how long this will take, but don’t be reckless and please, only kill when the necessity comes. As soon as I get the official message, I will let you know and I will depart for you. I hope you are not scared of your situation, alright?_** ”

Zidane laughed. “ ** _No! I’m not scared! They weak! I can kill them!_** ”

Having the confirmation that his little brother was fine, Kuja gave away a chuckle. “ ** _I trust you can fend for yourself until I can get you out of there. Do not kill your kidnappers yet, or this might get problematic. Wait until I am there. Of course, if they get too hostile with you, you can kill them, but if they treat you well, just let them be for now. I should see you in few days._** ”

“ ** _Okay, I be good boy!_** ”

“ ** _Good. Until then, I’ll wait for the ransom request._** ”

This was sounding odd, but Zidane might find some fun in it. He didn’t know how, but in the end, he will be rewarded with some fun, he was certain of it. Few days might be a little long in this dark room, though. Thanks goodness for this remote communication feature with Kuja.

Suddenly, the door where the two Humans had left earlier opened. The same shyer young man with the mask emerged, and Zidane knew he had to revert to his scared self and bring back his fake tears. As the young man came closer, Zidane noticed a plate of cooked meat and good-looking fruits with a glass of water in his hands. “This’s for you, kid,” the man hushed to the trembling child, trying to appease him. He kneeled himself and he gently pushed the plate and the glass on the ground under the small gap of the cell. “I’m giving you my meal for the day. I also tried getting you the best fruits in our supplies. It’s the least I can do for you. Hope you’ll enjoy it.”

After a last sniffle, Zidane gave the plate a long, innocent stare before he gazed back at the man, unsure what to make out of this generous offer. He wasn’t actually in need of food or sustenance right now, but he had not expected him to be all kind. And there he thought all the kidnappers were one-dimensional evil bad guys who only had money and profit in mind, like so many nobles and even the poor folks in his city, inducing him to hate most of them.

But this man didn’t seem bad. If he was true to his act, then why was he a kidnapper too?

“If everything goes well, your brother should come in few days,” the young man said. “We sent the request to Mognet few hours ago so they will deliver the letter to your brother. The Mognet system can be slow sometimes, but I paid them for an express delivery. Lord King will know your location maybe in two or three days.”

Well, his day to freedom was coming faster than Zidane had expected.

Hesitantly, the boy approached the food plate. He gave it another look before he grabbed the apple. It was big, juicy-looking and all shining. The man must have cleaned it for him. Zidane took a bite of it and lost focus on the man as he finished the delicious fruit. Satisfied, the man raised back on his feet, returning to the door. “Don’t worry,” he said, all calmly. “The boss might sound scary, but he doesn’t intend on killing you, and I’m sure your brother will come here as fast as possible. Until then, I’ll make sure you’ll be okay.”

As soon as the man stepped out of the room with the door closed, the young Genome reverted to his natural, twisted persona again, grinning with a malicious intent on killing his kidnappers when Kuja will come.

* * *

The child prisoner counted three more men among his kidnappers, making five men in total, though four were underlings of one human master, or rather, their “boss". The underlings were three Anthropomorphs, one looking like a very tall and buff Ox, one with the appearance of a Bird of prey and the last one with the allure of a heavy Tapir who Zidane recognized as the merchant who had lured him into this trap. The last underling was a Human, the same kind and shy young man who had given Zidane a great meal which the child had actually devoured with delight. Whenever they came in the dark room, they were all wearing a mask to hide their identities from the child noble who might order a hunt against these men if he knew who they were, after his freedom.

Because of this, Zidane did not know their names but he took the convenient habit of calling each of his kidnappers by their main physical features of their respective animals, naming them Ox, Bird and Tapir. As for the two Humans, he went with “Boss" and “Human" with the underling one. That habit of calling the last man “Human” raised some suspicion about the Tailed Brothers’ mysterious origins and whether they were human or a totally different species from another world as the rumors would suggest.

Nevertheless, this gave the men an idea. They acquired Zidane’s own habit of calling each other the same way as the child’s in order to avoid calling each with their real names accidentally.

Over the few days that had seemed slow to him, Zidane had learned to know a bit of each kidnapper. He could hear Boss brag about their fame and money all the time, but he never actually came to visit Zidane, saying that he hated kids and the sight of them disgusted him. Instead, it was his underlings’ task to feed their prisoner. When Tapir or Bird came to bring him food, it was always some plain bread with a small glass of water. Not only he wasn’t given enough to keep his stomach from growling with hunger, but they never addressed him with any words like he was a mere caged bird part of the furniture. Keeping his scared act with them had been the easiest.

However, things differed much when it was time for Ox to come.

This buff man's hatred for kids seemed to be exposed on the outset more than the others. The first time Ox came to bring Zidane the meager plate, he put the food closer to the rusted cell. When the child came to pick it, the man kicked him hard on the nose to the point Zidane yelped in fear and shock with two bleeding nostrils and the constant taste of iron inside his mouth. As the kid crouched in pain further away in the corner crying, Ox burst out of laughter before he kicked the plate, causing the food to drop and scatter on the floor in an unappetizing mess.

This was the only time Zidane was about to drop his innocent, scared act to snarl and roar at him, but he remembered he had to learn to compose himself, especially in such dire situations.

Thankfully, when everyone else had been darkness to him, there was a light. Human seemed to be the only one without an actual evil intent.

From Human's kindness, Zidane came to be intrigued by him. Thanks to him, the child was never stuck in complete darkness. Human always brought a lit candle or two to never allow full darkness to scare the boy. Sometimes, he’d even go unblock the only tiny window when the sun was bright. Even though Zidane was in constant communication with Kuja with their telepathic link, Human decided to spend minutes, sometimes hours, to stay with the child so he was not alone. Of course, Human did not know about the Tailed Brothers’ power to communicate with each other via their minds, and Zidane seemed to appreciate Human’s efforts.

And knowing Zidane’s reputation as a Tetra Master prodigy, Human even brought cards to provide the child some entertainment so they played together. Of course, the young man was a decent player, but Zidane won most of the games against him. All these games and victories brought smiles to the boy, and it brought smile to Human as well.

Since then, Zidane did not realize that he had been dropping his act with Human, and how he’d act with him was all about sincerity and truth.

Zidane liked Human.

After days, Zidane had learned to know more of Human, how he came to be part of the thieves’ group, something about having been forced into hiding when he saw nobles executing his older sister for owing them money but having never giving it back. All this happened when Human was about Zidane’s age, and since then, having never known the fate of his parents and the rest of his family, he’d been forced to rely on thievery to survive with no one to support him. That was until he was recruited by his current Boss recently.

As the newest recruit, corruption hadn’t taken over him at all, and kidnapping Zidane was something he had been against from the start. This was why Human felt like he had to be responsible for the child’s wellbeing, though he’d always apologize when he could not come to visit him.

Naturally, Zidane had begun to open up to Human, knowing that the young man had been speaking to him with the truth. The boy bragged about Kuja and how awesome he was, even though he hated the way he dressed and applied makeups like a girl sometimes. He also mentioned how he liked Mahila. When Human asked who Mahila was, Zidane told him she was a super awesome, big, fluffy Silver Dragon. Human questioned himself about this as he was not aware that Silver Dragons existed and that they were only a legend. No dragon as such had ever been spotted on the Mist Continent as far as he knew, except in old books of legends and fairy tales.

This might confirm the rumor about the Tailed Brothers coming from another world…

This time, it was now or never to get the truth out of the child.

“Hey, Zidane,” Human asked the child once during one of their discussions. “Are you a Human?”

“No.” Zidane’s answer was surprisingly spontaneous and the smile on his face was swept away fast with his added comment. “I’m a Genome.”

Human seemed to be taken aback by the answer. Was this why he and his brother possessed a tail? Why did he look sad about it? “What’s a Genome?” the young man questioned, clueless.

“Huh?” Zidane stared at Human, unsure what the question meant. “I’m a Genome?”

Of course, as a young child, Zidane was unable to give a proper explanation on what a Genome truly was. It was the same as to ask a human child what a Human was. Perhaps was a Genome a Human with a tail?

Still, Zidane’s statement seemed to reveal quite a bit on his origins, though Human had more questions crossing his mind than answers now. However, the man decided it was better to keep the whole Silver Dragon and Genome things for himself. Telling others that the boy was not an actual Human might cause ruckus among his partners…

* * *

Today was the day. Kuja told his brother he should be arriving with the ransom soon, which was a written note delegating a quarter of his wealth to the thief group which the five men should be able to use to get their new fortune.

Human had told him five days were spent in this cell. Thanks to Human’s intervention, his days were not spent in boredom and rage and he had even been able to entertain himself when Kuja was not available in their telepathic link. While Zidane couldn’t say his days in the cell were better than the boredom of staying in their great manor, there was something he missed from home, and it was his brother’s physical presence. Speaking to him with their connected minds was not the same as meeting up face to face…

“ ** _Zidane, I’m in front of the door. I’ll leave all the fun to you and I trust you’re ready._** ”

“ ** _Yay, Kuja! Can’t wait!_** ”

When the group heard the soft knock on their hideout entrance door, a thrilling rush waved through the kidnappers, knowing who they were going to meet. When Boss faced a silver-haired young man with a furred tail swaying left and right in a slow, religious and calm rhythm, his smile was turning into a wide grin behind his mask. The other masked men followed their Boss, staring at the famous, newest Treno noble dressed in his quite revealing, feminine-looking attire, not something they’d expect from someone with a bratty little brother.

Oddly, no one else seemed to accompany Kuja Tribal; no guards, no servants, only the noble himself. The group had expected him to have few guards following behind, but perhaps the noble was too dumb. They heard of Kuja’s magic prowess, but there was no way he could take on five armed men who could fend for themselves.

Still, the smile on the young noble exhibited the confidence he possessed despite knowing his brother’s life and death situation.

“You got the money, kiddo?” Boss asked as his excitement set in.

Blinking for a moment after being taken aback by the comment, Kuja regained his composure to laugh softly. “How rude,” the nobleman asserted as he stifled his laughs. “No greetings? No welcoming fanfare? Fine, fine, but if my memory serves me right, I have made the assumption that you have requested a piece of paper with my signature, and not money.”

Kuja’s sarcasm and delicate mannerisms brought the Boss infuriation. After taping his foot like an angry child, he snarled, “Don’t play dumb games with me! If you want to claim your bratty brother safe and sound, just give us your official note delegating the quarter of your fortune!”

“Bratty brother?” the tailed noble repeated after Boss, having struggled to imitate his gruff tone, which he failed but felt amused by it. This did not please the leader at all. Kuja coughed another fit of giggles. “Ha, ha, ha! How can you make such claims? I can assure you, Zidane Tribal is such an angel I cannot tell if we are speaking of the same brother.”

Hating to be mocked by this nobleman, Boss strived to make himself more menacing by lowering his tone of voice with a growl. “You don’t have the written note, don’t you? You do know what will happen to Zidane if you don’t bring that written note to us?”

“Hmm? What?” Kuja rolled his eyes around like a clueless man before he snapped back to reality at the grumpy boss. “Oh, I must apologize for my ignorance. I have truly believed that you were speaking of another brat. Please, you must forgive me! After all, this is my first time dealing with a kidnapping AND a ransom, you know? How can sentient creatures of this world stoop so low…”

“Shut up!” Boss screamed, his hands now fists that really wished he could give that silver-haired noble a hard punch on his delicate-looking face. Oh, how he’d like to see his feminine face ruined by blood. “If you don’t comply, we’re going to sell your boy away, don’t you forget! Do you realize how much this tailed boy can be fetched for?! Such a weak, malleable, yet stunning creature from beyond! With the profit we can gain from him, we won’t even need your fortune!”

Oh goodness. How stupider could this leader get? Kuja felt too powerless to stop his giggles now. “Weak? Malleable? Stunning?!” the older brother sang out in a melodramatic tone. “Oh, right! Ha, ha! We do speak of the same little brother of mine! Well, then…” The young man went for his handbag and took out a piece of folded letter before he handed it to Boss who immediately grabbed it with excitement. “Here is your precious delegation note you coveted with a burning passion. So much for a piece of paper.”

Boss unfolded the letter, with Ox and Tapir looking at the contents from behind with wide eyes. Their smiles broadened as they read. Victorious with a pumping fist up, Ox exclaimed out loud, “We’ve our fortune, finally!”

“We’re rich!” Tapir cried with Ox. “It even got the official Tribal family’s seal!”

Trying to contain himself, Boss took a long inhalation before he shot a glare at Bird, ready to shout an order. “Great! You release the crying brat! We’re holding on to our fair exchange!” With a nod, Bird went to the room in the back.

From this moment, Human noticed a strange, twisted smile forming over the nobleman's lips. With the knowledge acquired over the thievery experience, he knew this was not an overjoyed smile.

No, this was the smile of a very calculating mastermind knowing exactly what will happen next.

He was now scared.

“Ah, ‘fair exchange'. I hardly call this fair,” Kuja commented, his cold smile opening barely enough to let his tongue brush on his lips with a strange satisfaction. “We can make it fairer, for entertainment purposes.”

Shocked by the latest three words from Kuja’s statement, Ox, Tapir and Boss glared at him at the same time, blinking. “Entertainment purposes?!” Tapir asked, raising an eyebrow.

Before the kidnappers could add another word, a loud scream from the back room cut them short from their brief victory. With three men turning around toward the direction of the room where the boy was held, Human was the only one who glared at Kuja who was not startled by the scream at all. His cold smile frozen on place, the nobleman knew precisely what was happening. His arms folded, Kuja waited for the unseen spectacle to move out of the room to reach him soon.

Panic and courage rushing in at the same time, Tapir dashed to the room, unsheathing his two daggers while Ox and Boss hesitated to join their friends. However, from where they stood, they heard the horrific noises of a gruesome battle fought in that dark room, from which another scream followed. “Bird! W-What's happening?! Oh, gosh… Oh! No! Pleasepleaseplease! Nononono!!! Arrrgh!!!”

Then Tapir’s screams dropped mute.

Hearing the silver-haired man’s chuckles from behind, Boss and Ox began to shiver, near terrified to watch the nobleman. When they turned around, they distinguished on his expression the enjoyment of the torture Kuja did not see but heard.

“Yes, I should tell you,” Kuja began, his smirk giving the men a terrifying shiver down their spines. “Zidane is truly an angel, an Angel of Death, to be precise, just as I am. We have descended from the sky to bring your doom.” The men wanted to escape now, but they remained frozen on place to realize that the silly rumor of the Tailed Brothers being sent by the gods to destroy this world might actually be a reality. “Unfortunately, I am not to take part of this pleasurable occasion of this cathartic carnage. Zidane deserves all this fun for himself for having been victim of your dumb kidnapping and ransoming idiocies, actions that had sealed your fate the instant you have laid your dirty hands on him.”

Frozen by horror, the three men could not even find their time to grab their weapons to take on the tailed noble by the fear of meeting their death faster. When tiny, yet heavy steps were heard behind their back, they turned around, only to get their fear amplified beyond nightmares. The sight before them was a glimpse of their dreadful reality.

The tailed child they thought as weak and malleable stood there with two daggers which they recognized as Tapir’s, his tiny hands damped by the blood of his victims. Stained crimson on his attire and parts of his bare skin, he shook the dripping blood off him like a dog shaking water off, launching drips of red all across the room. When the boy stared back at the men, the kidnappers spotted the red juice leaking from his smiling lips and chins. Between his red-stained teeth, a patch of fur and grey skin that seemed to have belonged to Tapir hung down and flopped under the feral boy’s grin.

Like he had madly enjoyed his carnage, Zidane started to giggle and gave the men a cold, maddening glare.

“W-What are you?!” Boss stuttered as he managed to unsheathe a dagger which trembled between his fingers.

With a tired sigh, Kuja said, “I have told you already. Do I really need to repeat myself? Your short-term memory deludes you, but fine, if I have to explain again. Zidane and I, we are Angels of Death sent by a higher authority to bring death upon this world. I suppose this is something I should not tell you, but you still have my written note that I should claim back. After all, how can words and notes matter to a group of dead men?”

It was Ox’s time to take his weapon out. Trying to act the bravest as the tallest and buffest of the men, he came forward but remained careful. “No, that’s a bunch of bullshits!” he screamed.

“It is unfortunate that the death of your two companions is not ‘bullshit',” the older brother snickered at his own word, clearly not used to say such unrefined terms. “Oh well. It is now my time to enjoy the spectacle my little brother has started in the backroom. I hope the carnage will be worthy of my time. Enjoy your death.”

The massacre began. Zidane spitted out the piece of hanging flesh out of his mouth before he sprang toward Boss without warning, his daggers quickly slicing through his throat. As Ox ran forward the boy to stop him, the tailed child kicked Boss on the face and bounced toward Ox to cast out the man’s knife out of his hand with his daggers. Pushing Ox to the floor by jumping and landing straight at full weight on the man, Zidane immediately bounced again to land on the big Anthropomorph with his two daggers stabbing deep into the flesh of his chest. Ox coughed blood out of his throat, where the intense pain pinned him to the floor.

Zidane had specifically not aimed to this man’s vital parts so he could watch that despicable Gaian suffer into a slow and painful death.

After observing the scene, Kuja prided himself to see how Zidane had grown up to become the little brother he wanted him to be; a fearless, violent, yet obedient child.

“ ** _Oh, and hey, don’t forget to take a bath in the nearby lake when we return home,_** ” Kuja mocked the boy in their minds as he caught the written note from the now dead Boss’s hand and burned it with a weak Fire spell. “ ** _The stench stemming from your body is worse than from all these men combined._** ”

Frozen by the comment, Zidane gave Kuja a saddened glare with a disappointed pout on his lips. He protested, “ ** _Aww, I have to? Can’t smell anything on me._** ”

Of the five kidnappers, only Human was still standing, his weapon long dropped to the ground from the terror as he continued to shiver in a corner. He should have fled to the entrance door when he had the moment, when Zidane was taking on his two other companions. But after witnessing this bloodied scene, he knew the Tailed Brothers will reach him as fast as Zidane had killed his partners with such ease in a split second. He knew he was going to join them and die soon.

He shut his eyes and waited for his fate to come.

He waited, and waited…

And suddenly, the door shut, and there were no more noises around, save for his own heavy nervous breathing and the fast sounds of his heartbeat.

There was no pain, no death that came to him, and he opened his eyes after a minute of this surrounding silence.

It was a miracle.

The Tailed Brothers were gone, having left their hideout into a mess of blood and lifeless corpses.

They had spared him…

Well, this will be the last time he will deal with these savage nobles…

…

“ ** _Human was nice with me._** ”

“ ** _Oh, is that why you left him alive?_** ”

“ ** _Yes! He feeds me with good food! His friends hurt me all time and give me bad food!_** ”

That very statement, while innocent sounding, offered Kuja a startling realization out of his growing little brother. At this point of his life, even as a child loyal to his older brother, Zidane still was an easily influenced boy when Kuja was out of the way. How he spoke of that Human he left behind revealed how much kindness and good manners could distract him from the purpose of his life, and this might become a problem as this child will eventually grow into an adult. To reach adulthood meant Zidane will take his own decision about his life, where he might not even follow Kuja anymore.

And for this reason, not only he will have to manipulate the Gaians to reach his goals, but Zidane as well.

The thought pained him.

“ ** _Ha, ha! I see,_** ” Kuja responded to the boy, trying to keep up with Zidane’s enthusiasm of being freed. “ ** _You’re learning well of your own, to leave someone alive without my intervention. You’re growing up, Zidane._** ”

Despite all the fresh blood on Zidane, Kuja had no care to get himself stained as he caught his bouncing brother in his arms and raised him to his level. They had missed the other for long days, and a lasting, warming hug was needed to appease each other. Zidane wrapped his arms around his brother’s neck and Kuja patted him on the head before they brushed their noses, chuckling together.

It felt so nice to not be alone anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I was in the mood for a more violent chapter. Also, I don’t imagine Kuja can carry his millions of gil in some random bags to the bad guys, all alone. So, let’s just assume there’s a bank system in the world of Final Fantasy IX where written notes are considered cheques and all. Yes, I made that up.


	11. Chapter 10: Leaders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess it’s time for something else.
> 
> And thanks all for reading, kudos and commenting!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

The next day had been restless for everyone. When the brothers reached home in Treno, the servants were celebrating Zidane’s return. Getting all that attention seemed to raise the boy’s awareness that Gaians might be capable of love toward them, but Kuja was quick to remind him this was all but a façade as servants of the Tribal House. Indeed, servants whose task was to make their masters happy. Thankfully for Kuja, the boy believed it to be the truth.

For now.

When they both hit their bedroom together, Zidane bounced on the bed, relieved to find a soft ground where he could slumber in peace and comfort. After giving his mattress a silly hug, he went back to his excited behavior, jumping on the bed and exclaiming, “Hey, we can create group of many people and make them kill people! We start war!”

That statement came out as a total surprise, so much Kuja hadn’t been paying concern to it at all. When Zidane repeated the exact same words after he noticed Kuja’s lack of reaction, it was only then the older brother realized what the boy was saying.

Of course, Zidane had never been a good tactician or thinker, except when it came for the Tetra Master game. From his eight years of life, it’d been the first time ever Zidane attempted to contribute ideas into Kuja’s plans to conceive a war. Yet, that idea was at most ridiculous to Kuja that he was ready to ignore it and leave the room without a word, but Zidane appeared quite insistent on being heard as he continued to bounce on the bed. Kuja turned around, earning him an exhausted sigh.

The big brother explained, “You cannot simply order random people around to start a war. It does not work that way.”

When the boy stopped bouncing, it was clear Zidane’s excitement was affected. Confused, he blinked at Kuja with a disappointed pout. He asked, “Huh? Why? When you tell me to kill, I kill, so why not people too?”

“Gaians are not like you or I,” Kuja insisted, now speaking slower to make sure Zidane listened. “Look, all Gaians, including monsters, animals and even plants, have a soul like us, unlike the other Genomes. But since Gaians have a soul, each have their own individuality, just like you and I. Because they have their own individuality, most of them will refuse to participate into such war, unless ordered by someone of authority, a leader, a king or a queen.”

“Oh,” the boy said, mouth agape. “What’s a queen? Is like Lady Queen?”

Kuja sighed again. He was afraid this was turning into one of these questions and answers sessions he loathed so much. “No, Zidane,” the young man said, the rising exasperation in his voice now audible. “The Lady Queen we knew was only her nickname among nobles and the folks who knew her fame. She was not a true queen.”

“Oh, then we ask Genomes to start war?”

“We cannot. They might have no individuality, but they are not made to kill. They are made to be vessels, to learn the knowledge of the world to avoid mental decay and to comply and assist with Master Garland’s orders and tasks. They can only obey literal orders, so ordering them to start a war will be very problematic.”

Another idea lit up in the child’s thoughts. When Kuja saw the sparkles in Zidane’s eyes, he folded his arms with another huff, expecting to waste more time listening to his blabbering. “We can make things like Genomes, but they kill and kill only!”

… Now, this had gotten his interest.

Kuja had never been so glad to have listened to his brother’s fruitful advice, for once. Creating soulless vessels with the only purpose to kill sounded like an interesting concept. If Garland was able to create beings and things for certain tasks, just like the Genomes, the Silver Dragons, the Iifa Tree or even Soulcage, then it was certainly possible for someone like Kuja to achieve something as grand and impactful. All it took were knowledge and skills, which he possessed, but he was going to need deeper researches.

Yet, that idea was only that for now: a concept. To make these actual vessels, Kuja knew what he will have to work on for the next years. He wasn’t going to find anything in the Gaian libraries that might help him. He will have to rely on the Terran books.

Returning together to their hideout on the Outer Continent, Kuja spent the following days researching the books and the holograms in the Desert Palace, hoping to find something that will enlighten him with this concept. Zidane had insisted on help him in a way or another, but Kuja would shove him away, pretending he was only slowing things down. Having nothing else to do in their old home and without Gaians to bother, he’d go play with Mahila or fight the monsters that were roaming in the palace or outside in the desert. Taking on the Sandworms was a dangerous game, but there were so many of them to practice his fighting skill he no longer had any problem eliminating them.

Years before, neither Zidane nor Kuja had fully explored the palace, this area being so wide filled with lighting puzzles to walk around. At some point, Zidane had given up trying to find his ways, so he’d wander to the easier accessible places. He could not remember much of the palace disposition since their moving to their Treno manor, so he decided to explore this grand area again while Kuja busied himself with the books in the library.

When he walked around while humming one of these catchy songs he was taught from one of the Tribal’s servants, something caught his attention. Wandering around the Fire Chamber where he had learned how to light the fires to open the doors, a Moogle sat against the wall, reading one of the Terran books it must have borrowed from the Library. When the furred creature grasped over the boy’s presence, it started to panic. “K-Kupo! Oh no! Humans!” it shrieked before it went up to run and hide. Well, from its voice, it clearly was a male Moogle.

Stumped by the Moogle’s reaction, Zidane trotted after him, having no problem following but he maintained his distance to see where he was going without being noticed. When the Moogle stopped and turned around, he no longer saw the child behind him. He let out a sigh of relief before crawling under a table, feeling safe there. “Oh no, no, no!” he whispered to himself, all nervous. “This place was such a nice home without humans, kupo! I never thought I’d find them here! What if I’ll have to leave this nice home too, kupo?”

Listening to him from his hidden spot, Zidane began to laugh in silence. He had no mind that Moogles came to live in this palace as this place was already too big just for Kuja and himself. If few other sentient creatures had made this hideout their home while they’d been in Treno, he’d just ask them to stay. As he was about to come closer to the Moogle, the wall behind him began to rumble and then twisted around, swallowing the creature as he yelped in fright and disappeared behind the wall. Shocked but curious, Zidane crouched under the table where the Moogle had been, trying to find what had caused him to vanish behind.

Scrutinizing the wall and the table, he discovered a button under the table and he pressed it.

Taking a step back, he watched as the wall under the table turned again, revealing behind a wide, hidden room and the nervous Moogle ready to breakdown in tears and fear.

Having no time to speak with the Moogle and content to be allowed to explore a new room, he crawled under the table. He reached to the other side which revealed a wide room with these big glass tanks that reminded him of these pods rooms of the little he remembered of Bran Bal. Additionally, there were more laboratory equipment scattered around and another cabinet with tons of books placed in a neat order.

Well, Kuja had been searching for books, so maybe there was one among them that might be of interest. Zidane wasn’t attentional enough to be considered a good reader, but if reading was required to help his brother in a way, then he will do everything to check on the ones available in this room. He started reading the first one he caught on a nearby table, which was written in the Terran language which both him and Kuja could somehow read instinctively. The title already appealed to him.

_Conception of Empty Vessels, Part I._

When he opened the book, few drawings, other complicated scribbles and scientific texts adorned each page, some of them featuring humanoid creatures looking like Humans, and others even bearing the appearance of a Genome with a tail.

Wait, didn’t Kuja wish to find a book like this?

“ ** _Hey, Kuja, I find something cool,_** ” Zidane called his brother with their telepathic link.

“ ** _Ah? What did you find?_** ” Kuja responded, seeming fatigued.

“ ** _A new room and a book called Conception of Empty Vessels._** ”

…

Kuja lost no time to join Zidane in the newly discovered room and he was impressed by its marvel. He went to grab the book his brother was holding and opened it to see some thorough, gruesome details of the prototype of an empty vessel made to welcome a soul before they were given a proper term, a Genome. Only when they will receive a soul, they will be given a full mortal life, sentience and a free will. Before then, the vessels will acquire knowledge and will do several tasks for their most recent android creation which they put hope on to revive their Terran civilization and planet, a creation they named “Garland”.

How fascinating…

If only he could transfer this concept to another kind of empty vessels to create an army of killers, that would be the most convenient to his goal to prove their master that they could achieve anything, like ruling the worlds and disposing of the old man.

That might work, but he was expecting to spend the next years into this alone as Zidane certainly couldn’t help him with this.

Yet, Zidane had discovered this hidden room full of Terran treasures and this book, which was helping him more than enough…

* * *

The day Zidane hit his ninth year of life, a pleasant surprise was held by the servants of the Tribal noble house. The tailed boy woke up to find a nicely decorated and sweet-smelling cake on the dining room, the first place he would always head after getting his morning cleanup. Kuja found the cake at the same time, where the servants were gathered around the table to wish the boy a happy birthday. Both brothers had never seen anything like this before, but Zidane seemed rather joyful of the attention he was suddenly getting, though he could not explain why.

When the servants realized that the concept of birthday was an alien and unknown aspect to the Tailed Brothers, shock befell on them. One of the servants explained they were celebrating their master’s ninth “birthday”, which still left the two nobles clueless.

“Ninth… birth… day?” Kuja asked.

“Wait, you don’t know what a birthday is?” one of the younger servants gasped.

One of the numerous rumors that made up the Tailed Brothers’ origins that they came from another world was closer to the truth than ever. Who on Gaia didn’t know what a birthday was? “A birthday is when you celebrate the day you were born each year!” another servant claimed out excitedly.

Right. Kuja could never tell why he remembered clearly the day Zidane was born, or rather, “released” from his tank in the Bran Bal laboratory. Kuja did not recall the exact day himself had been released to the living, but he did remember that he had been on his eighth year of life when Zidane came to be. The day of Zidane’s life was the only way he recalled his own age, so he always assumed to have reached a new age whenever Zidane hit his “day of release”.

He did mention few times to the servants of the day Zidane was “born”, but he never thought that day could have some significance to them as to celebrate the day of a “birth” each year. How odd, Kuja had heard of the word “birthday” before among folks and their servants, but he had never given it a second thought. It was a word of no importance since it did not help him in his quest to overthrow his old master.

But watching his brother smile wide at all the attention and the nice food he was getting from the servants brought a short joy to Kuja. He never truly realized that despite how dangerous Zidane was to the Gaians that went against their path, he still was only a child. Children like him treasured that kind of praising attention.

And this was exactly why Kuja’s ephemeral joy was cut short. He had to be careful about this. He recalled the kidnapping events where Zidane, without Kuja’s influence and presence, was getting softened by a kinder man who he even left alive after he had slaughtered all of the man’s companions. Zidane seemed to crave for people’s kindness, just as Kuja was the only one who was truly kind to him. A dangerous child like Zidane remained malleable. If the boy softened too much to the Gaians, he might start to like living with them and perhaps even go against Kuja’s convictions.

Or worse, getting his soul taken away when Garland will realize this.

And this certainly was a problem.

When the day of the celebration ended, Kuja convoked his servants in private and ordered them to never celebrate the child’s birthday again.

But to deprive Zidane of such happiness gave him a knot to the heart.

* * *

How time flied. It had been nine years already in their adventure of life together.

And they had not met any leaders of the world yet.

However, thanks to the gossips among the Treno nobles and even the poor folks of the slums, Kuja was taught few intriguing facts. One of the most interesting ones were the rumors running about the Alexandrian royal family being particularly fragile in temper and decisions. With the years living among the Gaians, one detail he learned was that any fragile creatures were potentially malleable like an uncorrupted child.

Upon learning it, Kuja decided they will stay in the city of Alexandria for some while. As they were to set out to explore new places, Zidane seemed rather happy with Kuja’s decision to travel. He saw this as a fun gaming adventure where he’ll find new treasures to discover (and steal) and new monsters to fight around the city.

As their fame had already reached far beyond Treno, nobles of Alexandria were thrilled to meet the famous Tailed Brothers of the Tribal House. Already in Alexandria, Kuja gained the reputation of perfection in both mannerism and image, while Zidane achieved the status of the bratty noble, to both siblings’ amusement. When Kuja was not keeping an eye on Zidane, the child bounced around, caught everyone’s food, broke expensive keepsakes and disappeared in the streets of Alexandria.

It was during these meetings with other nobles where Kuja learned another exciting fact.

The King of Alexandria was a huge player and fan of Tetra Master.

Of course, merely asking the royal family’s underlings to meet with the King was out of the question. Something the Genome brothers had learned during their stay on Gaia was that meeting with a world leader was a difficult task. Becoming a noble and making a name among other nobles helped, but it did not guarantee to meet said leaders.

If the King won’t meet them, then Kuja will meet him with his most convenient and precious weapon.

How amazing it was to watch so many folks of all ages and from all groups, nobles and poor alike, gathering around these two tailed “Humans" like they were attending a public announcement. They watched and listened to a beautiful silver-haired young man with a tail bragging out loud about the game of Tetra Master and his champion little brother. Few travelers here and there recognized the young tailed prodigy of Treno, but most of the townsfolks could only scoff giggles and laughs at a young child capable of beating old masters of this game. This idea was at most ridiculous to the mass. How did someone so young and bratty-like acquire so much gaming experiences in such a short period of life?

“Come and try to best this nine-year-old boy in Tetra Master!”, Kuja announced out loud. Most doubtful of the kid’s skill, they questioned whether Zidane was truly a nine-year-old child or rather some young man bearing the appearance of a young child. However, by judging his childish nature, it was difficult to conceive the idea how a young man acted so much like a brat. His innocent eyes, his kiddy grin and his affinity for adventure were everything that made up a normal child.

Some took on the challenge by trying to best him in the friendly card competition, but so far, everyone lost against him. People in Alexandria were not as experienced in Tetra Master as the people in Treno, after all.

The royalty might not take notice of the Tailed Brothers in the crowded gathering on the streets, but Kuja had envisaged this. There were specific individuals he had been aiming from the start even before hitting the city of Alexandria. More exactly, he wanted to reach out to the ones of order who had sworn to protect the citizens, the people who had an easier access to the royal family.

As soon as he spotted one of the soldiers among the curious crowd, Kuja challenged her. “Young Lady Warrior,” he called the soldier who took a sudden interest into Kuja’s attractiveness and his strange, yet endearing tail moving in a slow pace left and right, like a cat. “Are you up for a nice game of cards?”

Taken aback by the mysterious silver-haired young man’s soft and lovely voice, the soldier came closer to him while she couldn’t suppress that shy blush from her cheeks. She was unable to hide her embarrassment or turn her eyes away from him until her partner caught her by the arm. “We’ve no time for games!” the soldier uttered, keeping her voice strict and hoarse.

“B-But…” the shyer soldier stuttered in protest as she was being pulled away from the charming tailed man, but she still had her eyes darted onto him, never wanting to leave him from her field of vision. “J-Just one game! It takes a minute!”

Her partner huffed a long sigh. “Fine, but make it quick!” she ordered. How odd to keep shouting as if she was taking her duty too seriously.

Excited to get her partner’s approval, the blushing shy soldier came to sit by the improvised table to face the mysterious young man. Giggling with enthusiasm, she took out her deck of cards, eager to start the game against the lovely man. Even as she went for her cards, she couldn’t take her eyes away from him.

Her excitement dropped fast when she realized she wasn’t going to be challenged by the man, but by a bratty-looking blond boy sporting a tail as well. Putting up her most disappointed pout on her face, the realization hit her harder as the boy could very well be the man’s son, making him possibly married or with another partner, and thus not available to anyone. Oh no, that reduced her chances to ever be able to hook up with him… Or maybe there was one chance in a million…

Unless…

Wait a minute. She was a soldier. Being a soldier meant she had some authority over the citizens…!

“Hey, kid,” she began to hush to the small boy who had not budged his eyes at her while he focused on the game. “What do you say? I win this match, and I get to bring this young man on a date?”

The child didn’t reply and he never left his sight away from their deck of cards. To aid him focus further in the game, the strict soldier gave a whack behind the shy soldier’s head, telling her to get it over with fast. The rest of the game carried on without any incident.

Of course, the boy won the game.

Shocked to see that a mere child had won against a grownup, the strict soldier’s pride took another turn for the worse. She tossed her shy partner to sit and try to win a game against the boy. She, too, lost the following five games against him.

Frustrated, the strict soldier ran off, pulling her partner back to their patrol on the Alexandrian streets.

Yet, soon after, other soldiers attempted to take on the tailed boy, curious about that young prodigy. They all lost.

And from then, rumors and words about the mysterious tailed prodigy who could beat anyone in Tetra Master ran among the soldiers of the royal family, which eventually reached ears of their superiors and the servants.

Until the ultimate goal of reaching the leaders of Alexandria came to fruit.

A week after Kuja had set up his plan, the same duo of the shy and strict soldiers from their first day came to the brothers with an official letter signed by the King himself. Written on the letter was a request from the King for their presence in the castle for a friendly match of Tetra Master with the tailed blond boy. They shall be escorted by the two soldiers to the castle to meet with the King.

Finally, the time had come.

As they waited with the strict soldier in the great hall of the castle while the shyer soldier went to summon the King, Kuja admired the interior and the décor and Zidane couldn’t stand still. He wanted to explore this grand palace that seemed even wider than their Desert Palace on the Outer Continent, but Kuja advised to remain quiet with him. Unlike other area, they could not roam freely inside a castle, and the thought frustrated the child. Why was everything different with royals? He did not understand.

Disappointed, Zidane sat down on the floor besides his brother, poking at Kuja’s tail to gain his attention as they waited. Kuja chose to ignore him but he sometimes pushed the boy’s hands away using his furred appendage.

The wait was getting too long for the child. He began to look around, trying to find some place where he could run off without being seen. Soon, he spotted someone from a door further away, an older furred man sporting a huge pair of glasses and an odd hat observing the brothers from distance. The boy glared back at him, furrowing his brows when he noticed the old man was not intimidated by his frown and he did not look away. Zidane wondered why the man was staring at them without taking his glance away. This made him rather uncomfortable.

“Kuja, there’s a strange old man over there,” the child said, and Kuja stared at the direction Zidane was looking at.

Curious, the strict soldier listened and looked toward the same direction, where she spotted the same old man before she smiled at him with a tap on the foot. She saluted him. “Greetings, Doctor Tot!” the soldier called him and the old man waved back at her.

“Oh, oh, I’ve been found out!” the old man, now known by the name of Doctor Tot, exclaimed as he approached her and the brothers. With a bow, he greeted them back. “Greetings to you all. If it isn’t the lovely soldier Sally and the two famous Tailed Brothers nobles of Treno I’ve been hearing of.”

As the old furred man kept walking toward them, Zidane glared back at him, still uneasy with the unusual interest that stranger had for them. “He’s the king?” Zidane asked Kuja who shrugged off the question.

“You are in the humble presence of Doctor Tot, the greatest scholar of Alexandria and personal tutor of Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII!” the strict soldier announced, her hoarse and booming voice resounding in the hallway. “You are to offer him ultimate respect!”

“What’s a scholar? What’s a tutor?” Zidane questioned again, but Kuja decided it was best to ignore him, at least on the outside.

“ ** _Stop with the questions,_** ” Kuja told Zidane with his thoughts. “ ** _It’s annoying and it’s bothering the soldier. Just look at her._** ”

Pulling Zidane behind him, Kuja stepped forward to the scholar with a polite bow. “Good day, sir,” the young man greeted back before he rose up. “I am Kuja Tribal of the Tribal noble house of Treno, and this boy is my younger brother, Zidane Tribal. We are pleased to make humble acquaintances with a great personage such as the princess’s personal tutor. I must apologize for my brother’s insolence. He is still young.”

“Oh, this’s all fine,” the scholar said as he continued to examine the brothers, much to Zidane’s dislike. “I’ve heard of your rise among the Treno nobles and your famous nickname as the Tailed Brothers. This has gotten me fascinated about your origins. I am quite please to meet you. If you have some time to spare, may I request you to stay here for few questions? I promise this won’t be too long.”

“No!” Zidane shouted out of instinct, but Kuja held him from saying more.

“I must apologize once again, but we have some errands and a business to attend,” Kuja gave Tot his generic, yet noble reply when he did not feel like staying longer with other nobles.

“Right, you own Treno’s most famous Auction House,” Tot said, surprisingly not disappointed by Kuja’s refusal and he chuckled with another smile. “I understand. Time is precious, after all. I will return to my duties, then.” And thus, the old man left to disappear to another door.

The wait for the King seemed to last for an eternity which Zidane despised. Despite this hallway filled with glamorous objects and so many artistic features, including the giant portrait of a wide woman and a cat on the wall, there was nothing to do for him. Poking at Kuja’s tail had become a borefest and Zidane was having more thoughts of escaping this castle and going on adventures again.

His eyes darted everywhere for the fourth time until they picked something of interest on the second floor above him, from where a strange flow of spiritual power was felt.

A pair of two small men, disguised in odd blue and red attires, bathed in an unusual power emanating from them. Zidane shook his head, trying to think through why he could feel them as one rather than two individuals roaming around. Who were they and what were they doing here? They didn’t look like normal servants or royalty.

“ ** _You don’t look well watching these two clowns,_** ” Kuja remarked in their connected minds, huffing a chuckle.

Zidane looked away from them and then he stared into nothing in particular, attempting to remain focused on his waiting task while answering his brother. “ ** _Dunno. I feel power from them, but I feel one person from them, not two. It’s strange._** ”

This had taken Kuja by surprise. This was the first time he ever heard of such things. “ ** _Two as one?_** ”

Zidane nodded. That fact will require some researches from Kuja’s part. How could two people actually be one person? This was something beyond their privileged and more advanced knowledge.

Lost in thoughts, Zidane hadn’t really been paying attention to anything until he perceived some loud voices behind his back.

“They have a tail!”

“Right, you are!”

“Since when do humans have tails?”

“Tails, you say?”

“Yes, I said tails!”

“Quite strange, isn’t it?”

Strangely, the soldier with the tailed siblings paid no heed to the voices, but when the brothers turned around, they were faced with the very two subjects of their secret discussion, both little men glaring at them like they were curiosity wonders. Kuja didn’t seem to mind being constantly observed as circus freaks, but Zidane hated that constant attention. When his boredom turned into a frown on his face, the two little men bounced away from the obviously annoyed kid.

“He’s angry!” the blue one exclaimed.

“Angry, he is!” the red one cried after.

“Oh?” Kuja began, not the least concerned by Zidane’s sudden growl at them, which he stopped by pulling his little brother behind him again. “And you are…?”

With the calm Kuja projected over, the two little men appeared more reassured with him. They both approached him. “Oh, I am Zorn!” the blue one introduced himself.

“And Thorn, I am!” the red one followed after him.

“We are twins, if you can’t tell!”

“The royal family jesters, we are!”

No wonder they were acting all odd and funny, Kuja thought to himself. No sane Gaian Humans should act the way they were, at least naturally, unless they were not Humans. If what Zidane had told him was true, then these two jesters might be something else completely.

After few words and more growls from Zidane who had no remorse to manifest his hate for them, the jesters left them in their wait again, much to the brothers’ boredom.

Thankfully, not a minute elapsed after the jesters had left that another presence was heard from afar in the hallway. Everyone turned to the noises to see the shy soldier walking forward them, escorting two new strangers behind.

Obviously, not any kind of strangers.

These two radiated powers. No, not that type of power which Zidane could feel. It was a power that alluded them as parts of the world’s leaders.

A broad man of tall stature stepped in, bathed in a royal crimson attire and a long cape trailing behind, his steps echoing with a majestic tint in the hallway. By his side, an imposing, wide dark-skinned woman adorning red and white decorated with gems walked in, smiling and fanning herself with her fan that looked too small for her allure. As they approached the brothers, the strict soldier greeted them in silence by kneeling and bowing.

Trying to adopt a louder tone, the shy soldier accompanying the leaders announced, “You stand before the rulers of Alexandria, King Alexander Got and Queen Brahne Raza Alexandros XVI!”

While Kuja began to bow before them, Zidane blinked at his brother before he pouted with his arms folded and he frowned. What was the deal with the royals? Why were people acting all submissive and strange with them? They weren’t looking any different from the other Humans Zidane had met before. He rolled his eyes, giving off an exhausted sigh like Kuja would do all the time whenever he’d act like a brat. He was not impressed by the presence of the King and the Queen and he tapped the floor with his foot and even his tail like he was waiting for something amazing to happen.

The strict soldier besides him was going to force the child to bow until the King made a move requesting her to stop. “It’s fine!” King Alexander exclaimed with an amicable laugh. “We need no formalities during a Tetra Master game! It is for this very reason I have summoned these two gracious Treno nobles, right? To each on their own in a battle of wits, where two opponents challenge their talents in a competition, where each are of equal status and maturity!”

Zidane could have sworn he heard Kuja chuckling at the mention of the King’s last word. He had to remind himself to ask Kuja what “maturity” meant later. Probably something funny.

Besides Kuja’s chuckles, Zidane was surprised to see the Queen laughing after the King, where they both suddenly went for a quick kiss. The act of kissing from lovers had always repulsed him and he wondered why married adults would do this all the time. Wincing in disgust, he shuddered with his clenching teeth.

From the way the royal couple kissed and laughed, despite their very diverse appearances, Kuja could tell that both loved each other deeply.

Perhaps something worth noting…

“ ** _I don’t like them,_** ” Zidane told his brother, keeping that pout and folded arms.

“ ** _Too bad, you’ll have to bear it,_** ” Kuja replied, amused by his sibling’s disgust. “ ** _You have to be careful with royals. They are of much bigger importance than nobles._** ”

“ ** _Why?_** ” Zidane wanted to argue. He never understood the concept of social status and everything. To him, whether they were Humans, Anthropomorphs, rich, poor, they were all Gaians.

Making himself reassuring when he noticed the boy’s reluctance, the King crouched himself to Zidane who was now holding to his older brother’s tail like an innocent child. “Don’t be afraid,” the smiling King cheered on him before he laughed again. “Come with me and we’ll play a game of Tetra Master! You like this game, right?”

The King seemed to own some skill to speak soft with children. The tone he used should soothe normal children, but Zidane was hardly in the norm. “Okay,” the child responded.

After a short chat, the King and the boy sat around a small table with their deck of cards. While they were playing, Kuja was stuck with the two soldiers keeping an eye on him with the never-too-far Queen who walked around the young man with a smile, giving him few captivated stares. Unlike Zidane, Kuja had his fair share of being an exhibitionist. He had no mind for others to take a look at his body, especially gaining curious eyes with his current revealing attire which Zidane hated. The boy even called him a girl for it. Funnily, Kuja never took offense from it.

Kuja also knew their tails attracted people’s attention, or they would have not earned the reputation of the “Tailed Brothers” for nothing.

“You know, you are the image of perfection,” the Queen complimented on his good look, to which Kuja smiled.

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Your Majesty,” Kuja retorted gently. “Let us observe this card game and see who will come out victorious, shall we?”

They lost no more time for chat and blabbering. Now in full silence, both opponents focused on their cards.

Zidane won.

“Impossible…!” the King whispered under his breath, shocked that he had been defeated by a mere nine-year-old boy. Broadening his hoarse and blaring voice, he exclaimed, “It must have been luck! A child cannot best me in Tetra Master!”

“Oh, darling,” the Queen hushed to her husband as she wrapped her arms around him, giggling at his loss. “Just admit you’ve been defeated. Didn’t you just say that opponents are of equal maturity in a game?”

“This was just a silly quote!” the man protested.

“A quote you made yourself,” the woman mocked.

Unable to endure this loss, the King ordered another game, which soon turned into a small tournament of nine games in total, to which Zidane won all.

Furious at the losses, the King was ready to shred his cards apart and throw the brothers out of the castle for having ruined his image of Alexandria’s champion until the Queen hugged him once more from behind, appeasing his anger. “Darling,” the woman hummed to him, and the man slowed his breathing. “This Alexandrian champion notion is an image you made yourself, of course. It’s okay, it’s just a game. No lives lost, no one’s hurt, just as it should be in a friendly competition. In the end, everyone is happy and life is great.”

* * *

From that day, meeting with the Tribal nobles in the castle was becoming an everyday sight. The King would request their presence for more games. Not all games were won by the child, but the King had to resign himself as the inferior opponent.

For the following months since their first meeting, Kuja spent his spare times speaking with Queen Brahne about everything while Zidane and King Alexander competed into intense, long games of Tetra Master. Yet, even as a great player, Zidane bored himself fast that he would beg Kuja in their linked minds if they could just go home. However, Kuja insisted that his brother kept playing as a part of his greater game of manipulating the royals to do their biddings.

This was during these times of Kuja charming the royals that Zidane met the unexpected.

That day, when the royal couple were being busy discussing of businesses, flamboyance and the kingdom of Alexandria with the elder of the Tailed Brothers, Zidane was allowed to take a stroll to the castle courtyard alone. When he hanged by one of the garden fountains, he saw a young Human girl.

Or so he thought at a first glance.

Wide bright eyes with a sparking fear rushing through, Zidane’s body suddenly shivered with her presence. There was a crazy aura, an oddly familiar power coursing through her that he could feel, a tremendous amount of spiritual power that matched something beyond humanity’s reach.

This was the power of something he thought to have long gone extinct, years ago, thanks to their home planet’s subpar technology. It was the power of summoning the legendary spiritual protectors of the planet, the Eidolons.

That girl who had finally taken notice of his presence… She possessed the same power of the people Kuja and he had murdered years ago.

Yet, it was so strange. Zidane remembered them to possess a horn on their forehead. This girl could summon, but she lacked that horn. Were there Humans with the power of summoning? Was this a power they could harvest and acquire? Or was Zidane dreaming or imagining things?

Yes, that must be it… He probably was wrong and made wrong assumptions. He shook his head and tried pushing these thoughts aside. He was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

The meeting with the girl was, nevertheless, inevitable.

As the girl approached him, Zidane turned away, sitting by the fountain and doing nothing but prancing and splashing his naked legs in the water, feigning into ignoring her presence. It was his way to tell her to get off.

But kids being kids, the little girl still came closer to him, standing behind him with a curious eye. Feeling like she was staring at him like he was an odd beast, the splashing of his legs got wilder like he wished to run away from this awkward situation. The power from her put him in discomfort and he just wanted to forget her. He was about to tell her to go away until she brushed her fingers on his tail to pet it, staggering the boy into diving into the water of the fountain basin, splashing the girl in the accidental process.

Startled by the water all over her, the girl began to yelp while Zidane bounced out of the water, landing beside her while wholly soaked. It didn’t take long before he shook the water out of him like a wet wild Fang, sending a heavy torrent to the girl who started crying and storming off. Zidane stared at her as she disappeared behind the bushes and the trees, perplexed for a moment before he gave her direction a fast growl. After calming himself, he turned around, eyes back at the fountain.

Who was that girl, anyway? She didn’t look older or younger than him.

Only when he was beginning to forget about her that he heard from behind a constant sound like a march of metallic footsteps, which became louder and closer with time. On his lookout, he was about to jump away but it was too late. A heavy hand grabbed him by his tail so fast Zidane found himself suspended in the air. Struggling to get free from his captor, Zidane hissed and snarled at whoever held his furred appendage. When he was able to get a better look at the one holding him from behind, he was faced before a tall young, bulky Human man in a big metallic armor, frowning at him.

A very unhappy knight.

Running behind the armored man, the little girl from earlier was still soaked and crying. This time, she was accompanied by a young armored Human woman who appeared to be another knight.

“Let me go!” Zidane hissed at the man holding him by the tail as he pranced his four other limbs wild, the hairs of his appendage bristling in fury.

Knowing the knight was nowhere ready to release him, Zidane resigned to his defeat and settled down, limbs hanging down along with his low head and the tip of his tail curved down. The knight pulled him closer, keeping up with the harshness of his face. “You kid!” he shouted at him and his loud voice triggered Zidane’s rage again as he fought to claw him. However, the knight quickly pulled him away from him to avoid the boy’s claws. “How dare you little brat hurt Princess Garnet?!”

Zidane calmed down again. What did the knight just say? “Princess… Garnet?” he muttered to himself, shocked.

“Steiner, calm down. Don’t call him a brat.”

That serene, feminine voice. He took a guess and assumed it came from the young woman who was standing with the sniffling little girl. Despite her youth, she appeared nobler and more mature than the knight. Zidane could feel some spiritual powers from her, but they were weaker than the little girl’s powers and more equal to a decent Gaian mage. Yet, this wasn’t what caught Zidane’s attention.

Garnet.

Zidane heard that name once before, but he had forgotten the name belonged to the princess! So, that girl was King Alexander and Queen Brahne’s daughter! He really made wrong assumptions! The royal parents were as Humans as any other Humans, so this “Garnet” must be Human as much!

“But this kid splashed the princess!” the knight protested, giving the young woman wide objecting eyes, though he still held the tailed child by his tail, much to Zidane’s disappointment.

The knight woman chuckled softly. “They are children,” she began, all solemn. “I will have a talk with the princess and explain children things with her.”

With a humph, the knight man dropped the kid and Zidane landed on the ground with a yelp. Before he was able to stand back, the man cleared his throat before he announced, “You stand before Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII!”

As the child dusted himself on the ground and sat back on his rear, he snarled at the man. “I’m not standing!” he protested before he bounced back on his feet, adopting his defense stance and preparing for the worst in his anger. “ ** _Kuja! Can I kill him?_** ” Zidane spat out of fury in their connected minds.

“ ** _What? Who is him?_** ” Kuja asked from afar.

“ ** _Dunno. A big male Human in a rusty and noisy armor._** ”

Zidane could hear Kuja laugh from the other side. “ ** _Oh, this must be Captain Adelbert Steiner of the Pluto Knights,_** ” the older brother revealed, seemingly amused by their meeting. “ ** _Don’t kill him. He’s an important part of the royal family along with General Beatrix. Both are the royal family’s protectors and Princess Garnet’s personal bodyguards. They are also the leaders of their military troops._** ”

Wait, so that woman with the little girl who was the princess… Was she the same General Kuja spoke of? No wonder they had chosen her as the army leader. Her powers were still above the average Gaian’s level. “ ** _Oh, okay, fine,_** ” Zidane answered Kuja in defeat, now having calmed down. “ ** _But I don’t like him and the princess._** ”

“ ** _Ah, so you’ve met Princess Garnet already?_** ” There was a subtle pause before Kuja chuckled. “ ** _Ha, ha! How about you two become friends?_** ”

Mouth agape, Zidane gasped at Kuja’s joke. “ ** _What? No! I don’t like her!_** ”

Kuja’s tone in their mind seemed to have quieted as well. “ ** _And she doesn’t like you either._** ”

Still in their remote discussion in private, Zidane gave out few grimaces of anger at Kuja’s words, unbeknown to the two knights and the princess who got to observe the kid. The Humans were taken aback by the tailed boy’s reaction to nothing, wondering what was occurring in his mind.

“Beatrix? Steiner? Why does he have a tail?” the princess asked, pointing at him.

“He’s just a scruffy ruffian!” Captain Steiner answered fast, but General Beatrix quickly stood before the man with her fists on her hip.

“Steiner! What kind of answer is that?” the woman scolded the man.

“Yes!” the princess adopted a more excited tone like she was agreeing with the woman. “All other scruffy ruffians don’t have a tail!” she argued with the Captain. “And that Treno noble with my parents has a tail too, except it’s white-ish! And he’s nice with me and he’s not scruffy and not a ruffian!”

Since that fountain incident, whenever the Tailed Brothers came for a visit with more Tetra Master games, Zidane did everything to avoid the princess and her two most trusted guardians, Captain Steiner, aka Rusty, and General Beatrix, aka Rose. However, for reasons unknown to him, these two always seemed to keep an eye on him.

The next months were going to be arduous on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zidane finding the kiss between the queen and the king disgusting comes from his childish innocent nature, where kids are disgusted to see couples kissing. It’s not meant to show that he finds them unattractive or something.
> 
> Also, it was about time Garnet enters this story, seeing she’s tagged and all, lol.


	12. Chapter 11: Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter required so many edits before the final version, though I still feel that it’s rushed. :(
> 
> Once again, thanks for kudos and comments!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX and its characters. Square Enix owns them.

Near a year since their first meeting with the royal family and all these games of Tetra Master, Kuja made few worthy notes that might be beneficial for his plan.

A less important detail was the royal family jesters. As Zidane put it, at first the boy didn’t know why these annoying twins and decent mages were felt as one soul. Thanks to the privileged access they were given by the Queen to the castle library, a wonder of knowledge treasures, Kuja was able to find out what the twins really were. His brother was right to be confused, because Zorn and Thorn were actually one fearful and strange, rare two-headed creature which the Gaians had named Meltigemini. A Meltigemini’s grotesque appearance was made up of nightmare to strike fear into one innocent’s soul. How funny to inspect a drawing made of the ugly monster to realize that their heads did appear much like the two jesters, all without the nightmare appeal. How this one Meltigemini came to become two separate human-like creatures was a question Kuja might never get an answer for, but this secret knowledge might come with use later.

Kuja couldn’t tell if the royal family were aware of having a single monster as two jesters, but they both didn’t seem a threat to them nor to the Genome brothers. They were even easily influenced, which Kuja could use to his advantage… And for this reason, both him and Zidane decided it was better not to disclose the secret fact to anyone else.

A second note was Doctor Tot’s fascination for the brothers on their biological side which was becoming stranger and more annoying with each passing day. From afar or close by, the old man observed them interacting and then he would take notes. He’d ask questions of their human nature and why they were acting like this and that. When Zidane revealed once by accident that they came from the Outer Continent, curiosity sparkled brighter than ever on the scholar. When the man questioned about the Outer Continent which no one had ever visited for centuries, Kuja only offered vague answers about the continent being dead, which had pushed the brothers to live on the Mist Continent instead.

In the end, the old scholar concluded they were simply Humans hailing from another continent with a strange mutation of a fully motored and functional tail, just like the Burmecians.

A third and more convenient aspect was the origin of King Alexander. As the servants put it simply, the man had not been born a royal, but a noble who came from the realm and city of Lindblum. During his time living as a noble, the man had been a close friend to the former Regent and the current Regent as well, Cid Fabool IX, thanks to their philanthropic nature. His generous side as well as his wish to educate the population to create Gaia a better world for everyone, whether they were poor or rich, had earned him the reputation of the Great Alex back then.

His friendship with the likewise philanthropic Regent of Lindblum and his easygoing attitude had attracted the Queen’s attention, and they had fallen in love with each other. Since their marriage, schools and hospitals had been opened all across Alexandria.

Despite his carefree personality, King Alexander’s mind was hard set to educate everyone equally and to free all from ignorance to make the continent a much better place to live without war and poverty.

This meant manipulating the King will not be an easy task.

However, there came the more interesting part in this aspect in Kuja’s scheme.

Queen Brahne, despite having been born a royal and living as a royal her entire life, had more the demeanor of a follower rather than a leader since the loss of her father, the former King, in a battle of the old war. Her father’s premature death and later her mother’s had affected her leadership in many ways. She had never been good with decisions and she’d rather leave all the important politics to her husband. Still, the people loved her for her kind and joyful nature and they partly credited her for the rise of Alexandria to its current prosperity.

Because of her social nature, she enjoyed having talks with the servants and her infantry, but she’d been very intrigued by the Tailed Brothers as of late. She had no care that they bore a tail. She even bragged about how Zidane, which she had taken the habit of calling Monkey Boy, and her daughter, Princess Garnet, would make a suitable royal couple because they were both adorable and they were the same age.

Followers like the Queen were the easier pawns in the making which could become very malleable under Kuja’s will.

But with the King around her, the Queen could not be manipulated, and manipulating both might be an impossible task right now.

Yet, something was amiss, coming from an unexpected source.

Zidane was never afraid of people, but he did act odd when he hung around the princess. It didn’t exactly look like fear, but rather discomfort. Kuja dismissed Zidane’s awkward situation as childishness where boys didn’t like girls and girls didn’t like boys. Or perhaps he was uncomfortable around kids of his age when they had the tendency to reach to each other more openly, and having been after Kuja’s back his whole life, the Genome child had never been the social kid.

Because of this, Kuja judged that asking Zidane what was going on to be a waste of time.

No matter, Zidane was at the age where his mind began to develop to the next level, with him starting to keep things for himself. Probably another strange experience or feature that Garland had wanted on his “perfect" Angel of Death…

* * *

Not too further away after Zidane’s tenth year of life, when the Tailed Brothers’ presence was now an everyday sight in the castle, Kuja could say with certainty that disposing of the King of Alexandria will make the Queen much more susceptible to anyone’s influence. Without the King, she will be forced into taking decisions in politics. She will have to find a new person to follow, one that she could trust as her personal advisor, one that will lead her to take rational decisions to make her country a much better place.

One that will lead to a great war. Oh, how Garland will be so furious of being so wrong about Kuja’s potential to overcome any limits implemented by his creator!

The older Genome thought of taking care of this grand murder scheme, one of such great importance this will be near impossible to achieve it without being seen with so many guards to protect the royal family. Even their two most trustworthy guards, Captain Steiner and General Beatrix, had their eyes set over the Tailed Brothers on perpetual basis since they had become a fixture in the castle. Oddly, the Captain of the Pluto Knights had a particular grudge against the Monkey Boy since that fountain incident with the princess.

Yet, having a great talent for stealth, Zidane was able to find the blind spots from all the guards over the long months visiting the castle. He knew when each member of the royal family was without protection, even if these times were quite short. If the boy had been a normal Gaian, he’d probably make an amazing bandit.

So, how will Kuja be able to murder the King?

Among the nobles of Alexandria and the servants and members of the castle, Kuja was known as a renowned, fantastic sorcerer with a potential for devastating magic. However, he lacked the talent for physical aptitude and attacks in general. Killing the King with magic will lead suspicions onto him very fast, which will ruin his plans.

However, he had the perfect weapon for this task, one that could avoid the sight of all kinds of careful eyes, no matter how many guards were taking a stroll in the castle. Zidane was agile, fast and small. He could wield knives so nicely and cut through his preys and victims so perfectly that they were not able to scream for help or fight back. With so many protectors around, the King’s perfect killer was right under his nose. And with so many weapon holders in this castle, let it be guards, knights, soldiers and even cooks, there will be too many potential killers around to make accusations onto one individual.

And besides, no one will suspect an “innocent” child for this great murder.

Tonight, when the grounds were heavily guarded but the higher grounds were ignored, Zidane descended from the sky with their Silver Dragon, hidden by the darkness of the sky. Zidane went straight to the King’s private quarters from the open window where the great man loved to retire alone after long political discussions. The man was sounded asleep on his bed, all exposed, alone and completely harmless.

Careful to not spur any noise, Zidane slowly pranced before the sleeping King, his daggers ready to proceed with his biggest murder of all.

One clean motion, no hesitation. No scream, no awakening, and the bed soon bathed with King Alexander’s blood.

But the unexpected occurred.

A miscalculation…

King Alexander lived to wake up in the most intense pain to the chest and his throat with wide open cuts, but there was life rushing through his veins like he still needed to cling to this world. The man caught Zidane’s tail with his hands, pulling the little child toward him in one fast move before he bit deep into his furred appendage, a last resort so he could leave a trace of his murderer. Without thinking, the boy screamed and left his dagger on the ground in a loud clash before he bit the King all over in return. Their battle was becoming a biting and clawing tournament until the King could no longer fight and his soul left him for good.

Finally, Kuja’s plan will go forward. Satisfied, the weak, injured and bloodied child began to smile and chuckle at the prospect of finding freedom from their creator in a near future now.

Still stationed outside, Mahila crawled her head into the window, distressed by the Genome child’s predicament with blood all over him. With a purr, she came to nuzzle the boy with her muzzle, seeking to offer him some comfort by licking to clean her friend of all the blood over him.

Unfortunately, Zidane’s previous scream and the sound of his fallen daggers had alerted the guards from the grounds below. The child could hear them rushing to the King’s room.

Zidane had no choice but to find a solution in a matter of seconds. Getting on Mahila to escape the murder scene was out of the question. He was still badly injured, his body hurt, he could hardly move and mounting her dragon companion and then fleeing will take too much time. The guards that were getting closer and closer will see him escape on her.

No, he had to improvise this time.

He dropped himself closer by the window, under Mahila’s head. He told her to escape with a shoving move, hoping she will understand the message. Unfortunately, watching her Genome companion on the floor confused her and she reached for him again, licking the blood over him to relieve him of his pain.

Before the Silver Dragon could think of anything else, the door to the room clasped open, revealing two young soldiers out of breath and frozen by the bloodied massacre. They discovered the dead King Alexander who seemed to have fallen from his stained crimson bed, with a trail of red following his body. The sight of the corpse was a horrifying spectacle, and then they noticed a dragon by the window and the Monkey Boy under it, apparently injured in a painful agony.

The dragon had its teeth and muzzle full of blood.

Mahila’s instincts told her to leave the scene, which she did, much to Zidane’s relief.

When the soldiers came closer to the dying boy, Zidane whispered, “The dragon… devoured… the King… I tried… to protect him… but too late…”

* * *

News about a killer dragon roaming in Alexandria spread fast. Yet, no one had ever found that dragon that had butchered the King, nor that the folks suspected a child to have committed a horrifying manslaughter, not even the Captain and the General of the Alexandrian infantry. This was not going exactly how Kuja had envisioned thanks to Zidane’s miscalculation of the fatal blow, but everything still went to their advantage.

A national funeral was held in the castle courtyard that was open to all citizens of the kingdom of Alexandria and beyond, an event attended by thousands. Nobles and the poor citizens were standing together like a perfect world in harmony, a dream coveted by King Alexander during his lifetime, where everyone was of equal status. Standing beside the closed coffin stood Captain Steiner and General Beatrix, each with their knights and soldiers forming a line and brandishing their swords up to the sky. In front of the coffin, Queen Brahne and her daughter, Princess Garnet, bawled and cried tears while they held a ring of roses and tulips which they dropped on the coffin. To each of the remaining royal family’s side, the royal couple of Lindblum stood, with the Regent Cid Fabool IX showing a particular sorrow facing his old friend’s death. A priest chanted few prayers, hoping for the soul of King Alexander Got to rest in peace after death.

Oh, but Kuja knew as much that Alexander’s soul was simply lost as a part of the Mist right now. The simple thought of it brought him a weak smile which he tried to hide.

This was a strange funeral, nevertheless. Kuja never expected him and Zidane to get a privileged spot so close to the Queen and the Princess. According to a soldier, the Queen had insisted for the Tailed Brothers to remain close by them since the King had had so much fun finding a worthy opponent in his favorite game ever of Tetra Master. It went without mentioning that the Queen had enjoyed having long, interesting talks with Kuja.

The siblings could perfectly perceive the despair and sadness on the royal family of both countries, which appeared odder on the Queen, considering her usually joyful and kind nature. Perhaps this was the first step of her breakdown, which Kuja intended to manipulate to his advantage later.

But something else than seeing Queen Brahne resigning to her sadness was stranger to him.

Zidane shivered whenever he looked at the Princess. It wasn’t anything like Kuja had seen before on his brother whenever the Princess had been around. This time, the boy was close to choke some sobs and bawls here and there, something the child had rarely exhibited. The last time Kuja had faced such a crying Zidane was years ago, when the boy was realizing that death could be very well looming over his big brother one day. Kuja’s hypothetical death might turn him into a mad person, just like Lady Queen’s descent to madness over losing her fiancé.

Why was Zidane crying this time?

Walking together to a corner where no one could hear them, Kuja crouched to his brother’s level, stroking his hair and cheeks and trying to reassure him. “What’s the matter?” he asked the crying child.

However, Kuja’s reassuring move brought even more tears on Zidane. “It’s… it’s the Princess…” the child sniffled along with his stutters and sobs.

The answer surprised Kuja. “What about her?”

“She… She m-might hurt you…”

This answer brought even more confusion. “What are you talking about?” Kuja asked, trying to figure out what went across Zidane’s young mind. How could the child think of such strange thing at this time?

To make everything odder, Zidane decided to convert their discussion to their connected minds. “ ** _Garnet has Eidolons. Maybe she will kill you with them now._** ”

…

Astounded, Kuja couldn’t even grasp at any word to express himself before this startling revelation. The word Eidolons had already been lost to his culture for years after they had gotten rid of the Summoners from Madain Sari, four years ago. He realized that four years were not so long, yet it felt like it had been so far in the past. He had long abandoned the idea of meeting with Eidolons since then, but Zidane’s comment brought that nightmare back to the surface, the nightmare to see his little brother slain by these legends.

So then, why were Eidolons still present in this girl? Could Zidane be lying?

Shaking his brother’s shoulders for an answer, Kuja asked, “ ** _Zidane, since when does the Princess have Eidolons?_** ”

“ ** _I don’t know. She has them since I met her for the first time._** ”

“ ** _Why did you never tell me?_** ”

“ ** _You never asked._** ”

Well, Zidane was right about it. Kuja shook his head. “ ** _… Never mind that. How can she have Eidolons? She’s a Human!_** ”

“ ** _I don’t know._** ”

“ ** _No, that’s impossible…_** ” Kuja was soon invaded by old ideas that crossed his mind not long after their destruction of Madain Sari, which was the idea of getting these Eidolons for himself. What if… “ ** _Did she truly extract Eidolons from a Summoner? Or is she a Summoner herself?_** ”

“ ** _I don’t know…_** ”

That old idea… How thrilling just to think of having the ultimate power of summoning legends, ones that will throw his master into the depth of hell, never to resurface and bring pain to him. There must be a way to extract these Eidolons from that girl if she possessed them, and then Garland will get what he deserved! With the Eidolons within his possession, Kuja will need no war to wage and no need to manipulate others. He’ll summon them, and then he’ll rule the worlds!

With more researches, he’ll find a way to get his hands on them, for sure!

How he longed for the day his master will beg to spare him… This will be the day Kuja will win his freedom.

The silver-haired young man was so lost in this prospect of ruling the worlds and his eventual freedom that he was about to forget the other side of this entire revelation. It hit him as soon as he felt his hands soaked of his brother’s tears. Brushing his slender fingers over Zidane’s cheeks, Kuja approached his face to his, soon with their noses poking each other. This move always appeased the boy, and Kuja was glad this was working again. Some citizens noticed their moves and they were giving them an odd eye for these soothing caresses, but Kuja paid no heed to them.

“ ** _Don’t cry,_** ” Kuja told him with their telepathic minds as he softly wiped the tears away from Zidane’s orbits.

“ ** _Why?_** ” Zidane asked, now calmed, but still crying.

“ ** _Why are you even crying over this? Why do you think the Princess will use her Eidolons on me?_** ” It worried him that Zidane might be starting to develop that emotion the Gaians called “remorse” for having slaughtered so many in his short lifetime.

What if he felt guilty of the King’s death?

Unable to contain his tears, Zidane shook his head and dived into his brother’s chest. Surprised but guilty of his sadness, Kuja allowed his coat to absorb his sibling’s tears. “ ** _Maybe she will find out we killed her father. She has Eidolons. If she finds out your plan, she will summon that big, big dragon to kill you, like that one that wanted to kill you before…_** ”

Never mind that big dragon actually went after Zidane, and not Kuja… The boy must have forgotten about that specific detail.

Still, Zidane wasn’t crying out of remorse. No, he was crying because he was afraid to see Kuja killed. This was much less worrisome than he had foreseen.

However, there was that pang of guilt that hurt him. It was so heartbreaking how Zidane feared for Kuja’s death so much the kid had no care of his own death. It was for this very reason Zidane had tried to fight that big summoned dragon they now knew as Bahamut, even knowing that he could not survive against the legendary protectors of the planet. If Kuja and Mahila had not intervened, Zidane would have long been a lost soul of the Mist, or perhaps worse, as a vanishing soul of the dying Terra.

What an older sibling he was…

“ ** _I won’t die, and you will not either,_** ” Kuja said, caressing Zidane’s hardened cheeks with his fingers. “ ** _They will never know our plan. Princess Garnet will never use Eidolons on us._** ”

“ ** _But… it still can happen! Maybe she’ll know and when she knows why her father died, she’ll want revenge! She still can attack you and kill you!_** ”

“ ** _It won’t happen. I will not die._** ”

Zidane gave Kuja another set of innocent eyes. “ ** _You… You promise me?_** ”

Kuja sighed. He was getting tired of Zidane’s childish feelings. “ ** _I cannot promise anything._** ”

Zidane whimpered now. He shook his head in despair. “ ** _No! You have to promise me you won’t die!_** ”

Exhausted, the older brother huffed and lowered his head in defeat. He looked at the crying boy, his frown hardened. “ ** _Fine, I promise, then._** ”

Well, maybe this will shut him up for a while. Zidane forcing that life and death promise upon him proved that the boy must have forgotten about the same promise Kuja had been forced to make when Zidane was scared to become mad because of his future death. Each time Kuja promised, it quieted Zidane, and the elder brother was able to find his peace of mind.

This time was no exception, thanks goodness.

From the corner of her eyes, something peculiar caught her vision. When Princess Garnet turned to what grabbed her attention, she witnessed the Tailed Brothers together in a corner, with the odd boy Zidane crying and Kuja reassuring him the best he could.

Was the boy crying for her father? Was this because Zidane had failed to protect him from that evil dragon?

If Zidane was crying so much for her father, then perhaps the tailed boy wasn’t so bad, after all.

* * *

The sight of a depressed Queen Brahne was an unusual sight among all living and serving beneath the castle and none were willingly approaching her without getting a scold from her. Without the King, she’d been trying to maintain whatever her husband had accomplished for the kingdom, but unfortunately, she did not share the same will that he used to possess. She was not an adept at political subjects as these were too much for her to bear or understand and she would always leave everything to Alexander.

But as the sole leader of the country now, she had to think of something, and fast, before Alexandria will slowly fall apart from her lack of actions.

At first, she thought of asking her daughter’s personal tutor and most trustful scholar, Doctor Tot, to become her new advisor. The man was all knowledge and wisdom, but knowing so much differed from being great with politics. It certainly helped, but this was not enough. For some time, she reconsidered making General Beatrix as her advisor too as Captain Steiner was too anchored to his duty as the royal family’s protector and the leader of the Pluto Knights. While Beatrix was said to have more common senses in decisions and with the ordinary folks of Alexandria, she was as entitled as Steiner when it came to following orders from their leaders. Her decisions in politics will be entirely based on the Queen’s mood, which might not make her the ideal advisor.

She was no longer sure where to turn to, until one day, something caught her sight.

At first, when she had witnessed the Tailed Brothers cuddling each other after the younger one was crying for reasons beyond her knowledge, she was repulsed by the sight to see two brothers poking their noses like this. This was not what siblings should be doing, and yet, this seemed like a normal move for parents and young children to reassure each other, just to show that they were not alone in their sadness, their grief. She was once told that the Monkey Boy had been raised by his older sibling, and thus they were just as a parent and a child should be, a caring family. Loving, orphaned siblings caring for each other were ones who should care for citizen’s wellbeing, to care for the country of Alexandria like her dear Alexander.

No, not just Alexandria, but the whole world, a place where everyone called home, a planet where everyone cared for everyone and where all had no need to endure life, but rather, to experience it with joy.

And then, another day when she took a stroll on the Alexandria’s streets with an escort, she witnessed another sight of wonders in the darkest and poorest area of the city. The soldiers had warned the Queen about that district because of the numerous underground activities going on, but that day, Queen Brahne wanted to see what Alexandria really was through and through. She nearly choked into despair as she saw the people living in these slums, but something else radiated in these dark parts.

In the poorest slum of the city, she saw him, that silver-haired tailed nobleman again, teaching the kids and teens how to efficiently use magic to heal the wounds and infections. The man appeared so gentle and devoted into interacting with these poor children to teach them how to live better. Not long after his teaching session ended, he handed them money over and advised them how to invest it for a better purpose so they didn’t throw the money into waste.

In a way, that young nobleman reminded her of Alexander. Both were humanitarians and both wanted the good of the world.

Kuja Tribal was known as a charmer and a good-speaking young nobleman, a philanthropist that the Treno folks loved and adored. Perhaps the citizens of Alexandria will love him as much as they had loved their King. Great decisions coming from a grand philanthropist will bring the country to prosperity and marvels to her people. This man was the perfect combination for a perfect advisor.

Thanks to the intermediaries of the Monkey Boy’s games with King Alexander, the Queen knew him well enough to be allowed to approach him.

…

Finally, Kuja’s plan was going accordingly.

The day Queen Brahne requested Kuja Tribal to become her own personal advisor, the young man hesitated, pretending that a lowly noble of Treno couldn’t become an important character to such a prosperous country. To him, he was nowhere near King Alexander’s level. Of course, this was all an act. His refusal had such a charming effect on the Queen that she never realized that Kuja was simply manipulating her into liking him for his mannerism. In the end, the young man “surrendered” and he accepted her offer, much to the Queen’s delight.

His act was worthy of the most refined actor, which Kuja aspired to, which the Alexandrian infantry and servants realized too late.

Queen Brahne loved Kuja as her new personal advisor and the Tailed Brothers had fallen under her protection.

From now on, they were untouchable, and there was nothing a Captain, a General and especially a Princess could do to stop them.

* * *

“Your Majesty, it is advisory that you look into the kingdom of Burmecia.”

“And, pray tell, Kuja, why are you bringing up Burmecia all of a sudden?”

“The Burmecians live on the underground levels of the Mist Continent under the dark shadows of the mountains that surround them, bathed into an eternal torrent of rain. The residual Mist soaring around them, the source of fear and war, has a hardening effect on their minds. They look up to your kingdom, all above the grounds, where the sun brings shine and warmth. They want to claim your light as theirs.”

“They’ve been living there for centuries and they haven’t troubled us since the end of the war!”

“They are known for their love of war, thanks to the Mist surrounding their kingdom. They possess an infantry beyond Alexandria’s imagination. Their soldiers’ insatiable hunger for bloodshed will lead to your kingdom’s fall.”

“Are… Are you certain of this?”

“Zidane and I have travelled the world, even beyond the Mist Continent. Their love for war is far beyond compare from other past corrupted leaders and a threat to the current peaceful leaders. We’ve seen their bloodthirsty reign, we’ve seen them prepare for a world war they plan to spread beyond the continent. The short peace you knew and longed for will become a figment of the past. With your King gone, their need to conquer a weaker Alexandria will amplify. All the works of your dear departed Alexander will be reduced to dust. All the legacy of your husband will disappear. It will be all for naught.”

“Oh, that would be so devastating! Is there anything we can do to prevent this?”

“Your Majesty, surely, a fine, educated lady such as you should know one of the most famous citations from Lord Avon’s play, ‘The Bird and the Cat’, right? You fight fire with fire, simple as that.”

“Oh, ha, ha! Of course, how silly of me! So, I should simply use my army to defend the country? We have the best soldiers on all the Mist Continent, after all!”

“No. You will have to lead the attack yourself, by conquering Burmecia.”

“What?! But why should I conquer this dark, ugly kingdom?”

“Would you rather see these rats start a war on Alexandria without warning? Imagine all the casualties among your people.”

“Oh, you’re so right about this!”

As the Queen and Kuja’s bragging and discussion carried on, sitting in a far corner of the throne room, Zidane rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, hoping for his brother to hear him. Unfortunately, whether Kuja heard him or not had no impact on the fact that the young man was not going to leave the Queen now. For months, whenever his brother and their Queen discussed, they’d go on politics, destruction and conquest ideas for hours, which seemed to excite the woman. However, having to accompany Kuja in this, Zidane found himself bored fast as he’d retreat himself in a corner, waiting for Kuja to end all these senseless talks about power. Zidane’s short attention prompted him to forget fast about what they were speaking of, and politics, royalty and nobility were not his fortes. During these hours, he wished he could go out, explore the world and fight things.

He was feeling left out and all forgotten, and it bored him to tears.

Since Kuja had been named the Queen’s personal advisor, Zidane noticed few changes in his environment.

The child usually was not bothered by all the eyes everyone gave him whenever he walked around. He didn’t think he had changed much in both character and behavior, at least. Still, with people giving Kuja’s colder, distant eyes, Zidane was getting the same treatment as Kuja’s little brother, like everyone despised both. Was this because they were different? Was it because they suspect them as the King’s killers? He could not tell, but the ambiance in the castle was no longer the same routine. Everyone seemed to fear them. All this was just irritating, and Zidane hated this. He did not understand why this was happening.

Or rather, he didn’t want to know why.

At one time, he had heard some soldiers speaking behind Kuja’s back. Surrounded by a plethora of anger, he had been so close to hurt them to the blood until Kuja had telepathically told him to let them speak whatever they wished, whether it was of negative nature or not. Their mockeries or praises were none of their concern and it wasn’t going to kill them.

Yet, Zidane loved Kuja. He was his big brother, his guardian. Zidane could not bear to hear so many wrong words that were aimed at him.

And then, there was the Queen. She’d been so present around Kuja that Zidane was afraid she was going to steal Kuja away from him. There were times when Kuja shooed him away when he was going to have one of these long, boring grownup talks about finance, royal treasury and politics. How Zidane loathed her!

And on the other side, there were two particular shadows behind his back. That Rusty knight and the Rose general, which Zidane had taken the habit to call, followed his and Kuja’s every move. To be spied like this was frustrating as they were limited with their walks in the castle. Zidane was able to avoid them most of the times, but this didn’t seem fair for Kuja.

After all, they were already monitored by their own master, Zidane knew as much. A single move that might go against Garland’s desire to kill Gaia will get them killed, or worse…

Was this all part of Kuja’s plan to rule the world? To be detested that much?

Yet, Kuja aside, there was one person who seemed to trust him a little more than the others.

Princess Garnet.

The castle was gigantic, so Zidane did not meet the Princess on each trip to Alexandria. However, for reasons unknown to him, whenever they crossed path, she’d give him a shy smile and a polite bow. The boy was all the opposite of politeness, so he’d just wave, stare at her and space out until she was no longer around. For an odd reason, she had been acting like this with him ever since the death of her father. It was to the point he could feel her inner powers had slightly diminished like there was no use in them.

And Zidane wasn’t sure how to feel about this.

Kuja had told him that both were different because they hailed from a different world, and unlike Gaians, they were created rather than born. They were artificially conceived to destroy, to hate. And in return, everyone else, save for their Silver Dragon Mahila who came from Terra too, hated them. This was all the natural ways of things, even if the Gaians were not aware of them being Terrans. Even if they were not exhibiting their hatred, they all hated the brothers for their difference.

But Kuja did not want the Gaians killed, at least not now. Instead, despite the hate, Kuja wanted to rule over them with Zidane helping him to achieve this dream, to prove Master Garland that he was all wrong about deeming Kuja as a failure.

No one liked the Tailed Brothers. All the praises and admiration they were being shoved with were nothing but lies and empty words so the brothers allowed them to live. The nobles feared their powers. The poor folks loved their wealth, not them. The Queen needed Kuja’s advices, not Kuja himself. It was all mutual respect for the benefits of each other, and nothing more.

Zidane believed all this, because Kuja was the only one, aside from Mahila, to love him as a family, and family meant mutual trust.

But Garnet… She did not hate him. Zidane was a good actor and a great liar when he needed to, but Garnet’s smile to him was not a lie, he could tell as much.

Zidane felt conflicted. He didn’t know what to do about this, what to feel of her.

Why was Garnet so nice with him?

* * *

Thanks to the free access to the Alexandria’s castle library, Kuja made another interesting discovery.

The Eidolon Alexander.

How ironic for that Eidolon to bear the same name as the late King Alexander. It was during this discovery of the legendary Eidolon Alexander that Kuja found the confirmation that the Eidolons could be extracted from their Summoners in the form of a gem. These new magical gems could be used by any other creatures who sought their powers, just like Kuja himself. Strange how the name of this country had taken its origin from this Eidolon, but Alexandria’s name’s origin had long been forgotten into the Gaians’ memories. Thankfully, an ancient Summoner from the era of five hundred years ago had been kind enough to leave a trace of its origin in the very book Kuja was holding.

In fact, around that time ago, a Summoner who lived on the Mist Continent had made an experiment with what should become the most powerful Eidolon of legends, which they had named Alexander. Unfortunately, the summoning session had run wrong and the Eidolon had gone on a murderous rampage. Deeming the Eidolon too dangerous, Alexander had been extracted from its Summoner as a physical gem which they had divided into four fragments. Each part had been given to each of the three great kingdoms of the Mist Continent; Lindblum, Burmecia and Alexandria. The last fragment’s location had remained a mystery to this day.

If Kuja could get hands on Alexander, then there no longer was any need to use the Invincible or even start a war. He’d rule over the worlds of Gaia and Terra with it, and he’d get rid of Garland for good.

Kuja knew the Queen owned one of these fragments somewhere, though he didn’t know in which form or shape. At least, it was closer to his reach. He’d only have to find the three other fragments. But to get his hands on the other fragments, he’ll have to plan something. He could go and steal each fragment, but doing so was just as easy as getting killed while trying to reach for them. All these stones were heavily guarded by their respective kingdom, their original purpose long forgotten to become national treasures prized by all.

How funny, to cherish stones that had no true purpose to their people other than cultural value.

Just as Zidane had perceived from the Princess, that girl possessed Eidolons within, not extracted ones. She was a true Summoner, yet one without a horn. Strange, she should have been disposed of, four years ago, during her town’s destruction, something she didn’t seem to remember. It probably was one of those amnesia strikes that sometimes occurred after a traumatic tragedy. Or perhaps there were still Summoners alive scattered on the Mist Continent, and yet, there were no words on them roaming anywhere anymore. How this girl was thriving and finding herself with the Alexandrian royal family remained a mystery to him, but none of that mattered. The only important detail was that there were Eidolons available right under his nose, and he intended to use them.

Unfortunately, according to his further researches, Eidolons could not be extracted from their Summoners until their casters reached their sixteenth birthday. So, remembering birthdays were not as useless as he thought it’d be. According to the Queen, Princess Garnet was a little younger than Zidane by about four months, thus she should reach her sixteenth year of life on January 15th of the year 1800.

Well then, one of Kuja’s virtues was patience. Only about six more years of waiting. This will give more time to plot all his other plans, like this war he needed…

Being royalty meant being on constant danger. No wonder they had knights and soldiers everywhere in the castle.

And… What if…?

“ ** _Hey, Zidane,_** ” Kuja called with their connected minds his brother across his studying table in Kuja’s new private quarter in the castle, where Zidane was drawing random animals on the paper. Kuja hadn’t really paid attention to whatever the boy drew from his imagination over the years, but he admitted Zidane was a decent artist who was able to grasp on shapes and depth of environment in his arts.

Disappointed by having his drawing session interrupted, Zidane grunted, voice louder, “Why are you calling me in my mind? I’m just sitting here, you know?”

“ ** _These walls in this castle possess ears,_** ” the older Genome explained. “ ** _I don’t want to take any risk of them listening to us. At least, they will not hear us if we use our telepathic thoughts._** ”

“ ** _Fine, fine,_** ” the young boy replied with a sigh. “ ** _Why are you calling me, then?_** ”

“ ** _I need you to keep Princess Garnet alive until she reaches her sixteenth year of life._** ”

“What?!” Zidane exclaimed out loud before slamming his hands on the desk. Realizing he had been loud, a short silence befell on him as he retreated to his chair with some embarrassment. Converting to telepathy again, he asked, “ ** _Why? Is there a reason for this?_** ”

Noting the shock on his brother’s face, Kuja chuckled. “ ** _I am going to extract her Eidolons out of her body, but we can only do this when she’ll be sixteen years old. I trust you can do a better job than these slacking Gaians to keep her alive. She is of royalty, meaning people constantly want her head._** ”

The thoughts of meeting Eidolons again had always frightened the child, deep down. That attack from Bahamut years ago still lingered beneath like a fresh image of a recent event. He could never shake off that fear when Kuja was about to lose his life from that threat. Eidolons were the only beings Zidane knew they could not stand against, but at least, their Summoners could be defeated. Knowing that Garnet had these legends herself, if Kuja would have given him the go to kill her, Zidane would have done so before he had even murdered the King.

But right now, did Kuja really want to use these Eidolons for himself at the expense of keeping that Summoner alive?

All Kuja’s planning into creating this war and everything to overthrow their master was starting to take a toll on the boy. Zidane had sometimes wondered if Kuja was simply using him as a tool and that their family love was another part of his plan, and thus all an act. After all, Kuja was aware of Zidane’s fear of Eidolons, especially that one that had nearly killed them, which he knew Garnet could summon.

No, no, Zidane could not cast that doubt over Kuja. When everyone feared and praised Kuja for his beauty, manners and powers, Zidane had been the only one who had met his softer, caring side. All these years growing under Kuja’s care must have meant something…

At least, Kuja meant everything to him…

“Hmm, okay, I’ll do it,” Zidane said, confused but blindly accepting whatever Kuja requested him. The older brother noticed Zidane’s obvious displeasure on his face. The child might be a good actor, but he was rather expressive during their private family moments and he would give his feelings away to his brother too easily.

After the weak nod he made to approve Zidane’s decision, Kuja did not add any comment. However, without sharing his thoughts, all the elder sibling could think of was being sorry to thrust this task upon the child.

* * *

When Kuja had been insisting about keeping an eye on the Princess, Zidane would rather do it from distance without ever being noticed by anyone else. After all, her own personal protectors were always around, weapons ready, to keep her safe. But Gaians weren’t made to last all day. All guardians needed their sleep, and when neither Captain Steiner nor General Beatrix were on their duty to watch over her, the duty befell on other knights and soldiers.

It was during these times without the Captain and the General when Zidane decided it was best to check on the Princess.

Despite Garnet’s more open heart to the young tailed brother, Zidane only spoke with her on rare occasions. When they did, their discussions were short, and Zidane would leave fast enough. However, the longest Garnet was able to keep up with him was when they had started to speak of their family. The Princess had told how she loved her mother, never minding her odd, grotesque appearance that many spoke of behind their backs. It was all in the inside a child will see in their parents. That was when Zidane had been the most enthusiast, when he had bragged about Kuja, about how he had raised him without having parents, which in a sense was the truth, and how they had been adopted by the Tribal noble house. Praising Kuja seemed to be the only time Zidane truly became talkative, like the elder brother was all he had in his life.

Truth be told, this broke Garnet’s heart over Zidane’s lonely life.

At the very least, even after losing her father, Garnet had so many friends and companions to count on. Perhaps they only appreciated her for being the Princess, but she was never alone. She had met Uncle Cid, or rather the regent of Lindblum, at her father’s funeral. The man now wrote her letters often, asking how she was going and even telling about her father’s past as a nobleman from Lindblum. To her, Uncle Cid was now part of her family despite not being related by blood. She also had Doctor Tot who might only be her teacher, but she had considered him a very caring friend whose priority was the girl’s happiness in her small royal shelter.

And while annoying at times, Steiner and especially Beatrix offered her many stories from the outside world that was unknown to her.

She had many people who she could seek comfort and happiness when she needed it.

But without Kuja, Zidane was lost and alone.

And their brotherly love troubled her in some ways. She had never seen siblings hugging each other that much and so close before. She had seen them when they were alone together, where they’d roll their tails and poke their noses to display affection and to soothe each other, almost as if they were some kind of animals. Zidane seemed particularly affectionate with his brother. Were they really from another world as the rumors suggested? Were humans in their world acting like this too?

These poor brothers…

Still, it was peculiar to see her mother starting to brag about the brothers as if they were part of the castle as royalty. She appreciated Kuja’s charming ways so much she once thought her mother was falling in love with him. It didn’t help that her mother brought this relation to another level and thought of Zidane as the perfect, suitable partner for Garnet, which wouldn’t have sounded so creepy if it wasn’t for the Queen’s obsessive ways of speaking it.

Of course, Garnet will fight the decision tooth and nail, if it ever came to that.

* * *

This was one of these rare nights where the dark sky unveiled the full brightness of the stars above and when neither Steiner nor Beatrix were behind her back to check on her. The soldier assigned to keep watch on her had fallen asleep on duty, which didn’t bother the Princess as much as it should. Without any guardian around, it was time for more privacy where she’ll be able to observe the stars alone, with no one looking at her or questioning her every move. Ever since Doctor Tot had told her about the constellations and the celestial images Gaian historians made out with the stars, she’d been dying to trace few pictures in her diary using the stars as her inspiration, to admire the beauty of nature and the peace of the night.

Sitting by the fountain of the garden, she grabbed her diary and her pen, drawing dots and circles using the dark celestial celling as her reference. Using her thumb to calculate the distance between each dot, she gave in all her focus to make sure her sketch represented the sky well. Art was a slow and complicated process, but she couldn’t wait to draw all the dots so she will connect them and make her own constellations. How her mother will love this.

But she wasn’t used to drawing, and she had even admitted her art pieces weren’t very good. Soon, realizing there were too many stars in the sky, it was too hard to focus on the sky and the paper at the same time. Already resigning to her lack of artistic skills, she put down all her art possessions and she lied down on the fountain border, lazily watching the sky and listening to the gentle chants of insects along with the dancing breeze through her hair.

How peaceful tonight was.

…

How boring tonight was.

Well, at least, this was all Zidane could think about right now. Hidden far above from the ground between the leaves of a tree, his body hung by his tail curled around a large branch, his slight prancing move producing a noise sounding like a squirrel bouncing through the leaves. Bored out of his personal bubble, he tried to check on things around that will distract him from his boredom. But on a tree, unless they were filled with delicious fruits, there was nothing of interest.

“ ** _Kuja, can I go home?_** ” he asked his brother, using their minds.

There was no response. Kuja was either asleep or ignoring him. Probably the first. Even their telepathic messages couldn’t stir him away from slumber, and Kuja had a particularly deep sleep in these days. It must be the exhaustion from having boring speeches with the Queen and his continuous researches on many things, like the conception of creating empty vessels from the Mist. As if keeping constant watch over a girl was less tiring.

Unfortunately for him, boredom brought drowsiness, and the boy struggled to keep his eyes open. How sleep would be awesome right now.

Well, Zidane had trained himself to keep his sleep safely while using his tail to hang onto things without falling. The nickname of Monkey Boy the castle crew had given him really did fit him, in a way.

Snoozing through his breathing, he let the emptiness take over.

…

“HAA!”

It took a short, booming yelp to bring him back to consciousness, away from the slumber he was cherishing so much. Alarmed, Zidane shook his head, trying to find where the yell came from. He could hear some rumbles and muffled cries from below. Something out of the ordinary was happening under him.

Two men he did not recognize, disguised as Pluto Knights, holding the Princess firmly, covering her mouth and preventing her to escape and cry.

Then he was reminded of his own kidnapping incident, when the men had covered his nose and mouth with a cloth full of sleeping medicine. These two men were going to do the same thing to her.

Kidnapping.

This was it. It was his time to shine now. Excitement rushing and goosebumps crawling up to his skin, a grin took shape on his face.

“Quick! Make her sleep before the others will be alerted!”

“I know! I know! Let me find the cloth!”

“You’re slow! Don’t b-"

The man was cut short when a small shadow lunged at him straight from above, propelling him to the ground in a violent launch and freeing the Princess from his grasp. He was going to cry in intense pain and shock but he was soon muted to perfect silence when the fast shadow slit his throat, shutting him into an eternal sleep before he even realized it. Shivering from the fear of losing himself to death after the massacre of his companion, the other man took few steps back before he noticed the little shadow looking like a brutal child murderer bouncing back on his feet and staring at him, his wide, mad smile stuck on his face. On the child’s hands, two daggers shined, fresh blood stains and drops decorating the blades and reflecting the light of the torches around.

Before the man dwelled into distress and panic, the shadowy child flung at him, impaling him with a dagger to the heart and the other to the neck. The damage was immense but the suffering was minimal as the victim was not even offered enough time to grasp through his imminent death.

How disappointing. The longer suffering from men like them had always left him with a more satisfying experience. Not this time…

Terrified by the scene that had run like a flash, Princess Garnet crawled herself by the fountain, crying and shivering like a young toddler. She wanted to cry for help for having been so close to disappear and for having to witness such a brutal, violent carnage.

But that carnage that had provoked her crying was exactly the help she had needed. The rescue process did not go like she would have dreamed, but at least, she was alive and unharmed. She couldn’t take her eyes away from the two bloodied corpses that were alive less than a minute ago. When she was able to detract her vision away, her eyes darted onto the one who had rescued her in such a quick scene that she had barely seen any details on how the two men were killed. Yet, she did recognize the boy standing proud from these two kills.

Zidane…

The tailed boy was about to leave the scene as swiftly as he came without a word until Garnet called him. “Zidane…! Wait!”

Startled from hearing his name, the child froze on the spot. The call had thrown the satisfied smile away from his face and returned him to his odd, anti-social persona Garnet was so familiar with. Now, feeling more familiar with the boy, she had no mind that Zidane had just killed two men before her very eyes and saved her in the process, or what he had been doing in the garden at night prior to the massacre. It didn’t matter that she had seen, for the first time, his wild, feral side intensifying in such a short moment, like the joy had spread through him during this bloodshed.

What mattered was that the boy had been present here at the right moment. The timing could not have been better than it was.

“Yes?” Zidane asked, strangely all cool but annoyed from being caught by the girl.

Her trembling lips struggled to get the words right. Speaking was so hard after witnessing such cold killings. How could Zidane not feel anything for these men? He was a child just as she was! “I… I thank… you, f-for saving me… If you… weren’t here…”

His eyes maintained the cold and bare gaze like he was an empty vessel for a short time. He breathed in deeply before he said, “Don’t tell anyone I’ve saved you.”

Garnet blinked at the statement. “Why?” she asked, puzzled.

However, the boy had already turned his back and vanished in the courtyard greenery, leaving the Princess alone with the two corpses. Unable to walk away from the scene, she was soon joined by two soldiers and General Beatrix, both astonished by the bodies and the crying, helpless Princess. After Beatrix ordered the bodies to be disposed, she crouched to the Princess’s level, bowing before her with a worried look on her face.

“Your Highness…” the General hushed to the girl, trying to appease her. “What happened? Who saved you from these bandits?”

Princess Garnet slumped forward into the General’s arms, taking the young woman by complete surprise. Beatrix was not allowed to lay a hand on the Princess or any of the royal subjects, but this time, the girl was acting all on instincts, now seeking comfort and warmth from someone. Before she shut her eyes, remembering her savior’s latest words, Garnet said, “An angel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Zidane killed the king and that no one suspected him, my Ace Attorney skills were tingling and I really, really wanted to make an investigation chapter. Also, the part with the “one clean motion, no hesitation” comment was inspired by my favorite cutscene in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
> 
> The part where Zidane forces Kuja to make a life and death promise is a recurring theme in all my family stories. I always find these things cute.
> 
> I didn’t originally intend it to be a chapter focused on Princess Garnet, but I thought it’d give a bigger role to Zidane so he isn’t just a mindless killer.
> 
> Zidane and Garnet’s birthdays were taken from the official Ultimania timeline information. Apparently, Zidane’s born on September, though it’s not mentioned which day.

**Author's Note:**

> English’s not my main language, so if you’ve got comments about English grammar/orthography/syntax issues, please let me know! Also, my first fic in AO3, so I'm a n00b on this site.


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